Masks that Hide the Scars (Rewritten Version)
by Professional Ninja
Summary: For 12 years, Naruto has suffered. But no more. Uzumaki Naruto used to be a kind, sweet girl that had a dream of becoming Hokage one day, but all of that ends after one, unfortunately successful, annual fox hunt. Instead, she wants Konoha to burn, and she won't stop until that goal has been reached. Darkish!Naruto. Fem!Naruto. Yaoi/Yuri. Rated T for language. Naru/Saku/Ino (Future)
1. Change

_Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto or any of its characters._

 **A/N: Well... this is my rewritten version. I sincerely hope that this will be at least slightly better than the last one. Enjoy!**

"Talking."  
 _'Thinking.'  
_ **"Kyuubi/Jutsu."**

* * *

 **Chapter 1: Change**

Within the Village Hidden in the Leaves, October the tenth was a day for celebration and remembrance. Twelve years ago, a giant beast attacked the village and very nearly destroyed it under its nine powerful tails. Namikaze Minato, the Hokage at the time, thankfully stopped the beast by sealing it into a baby that was barely an hour old, sacrificing himself during the process. That same child is still in the village to this day, but she was not celebrating with everyone else. For you see, she was a bit too busy for that.

One of the traditions that many of the villagers participated in was the 'Annual Fox Hunt'. Despite its name, those involved did not hunt real foxes. They hunted a demon, and everyone knew that the best way to kill a demon was to kill its container.

* * *

Uzumaki Naruto was a twelve year old girl that had a dream of becoming Hokage one day. Her favourite colour was orange and her favourite food was ramen. Miso ramen, to be exact. She was an academy student that had failed her exam three times, however she was determined to pass the fourth one that was merely a couple of days from now. She was known to be an annoying, bubbly, stupid girl that only cared about playing jokes on others. She was best friends with Nara Shikamaru, Akimichi Chōji, Aburame Shino and Inuzuka Kiba, although she and the Inuzuka often fought like cat and dog.

She was hated by everyone in Konoha except a handful of people, and they were Mitarashi Anko, Morino Ibiki, Sarutobi Hiruzen, Teuchi and Ayame. She met the first two people when she was five years old.

 _Flashback_

 _Like every year, she was being chased by a group of people with weapons, and luckily for her, she had run by a small dango shop where Anko was. The shouting from the angry mob had disturbed the Tokubetsu Jonin, and everyone knew that you should never disturb Mitarashi Anko._

 _Just as the mob was about to pass the little shop, the Snake Mistress made them pause. She stood in front of them with one hand on her hip while her other hand twirled a dango stick._

 _"Get out of our way!" ordered a middle-aged man._

 _"Why?" Anko asked innocently._

 _"We're trying to kill that demon brat!" claimed another man._

 _"Oh?"_

 _"Yeah! Now get out of our way or we'll kill you too, you damn snake!"_

 _The purple haired Jonin smirked._

* * *

 _A few minutes later, Anko was admiring her work. Once she had broken the first man's arm with ease, a lot of the mob had tried to run away. Those that hadn't were currently on the ground in immense pain with cuts and shattered bones. Turning around, the kunoichi had the intention of returning to her seat, however a small blonde girl was in her way. Anko frowned and tried to sidestep away from her, but the girl just moved in front of her again. The older female tried it a few more times before finally giving up._

 _"Alright gaki, what the hell do you want?"_

 _The child didn't say anything, instead, she looked up at the woman with her big, bright blue eyes._

 _"Are ya mute or something? Answer me."_

 _Still nothing._

 _"Well if you don't want anything, move."_

 _Nope._

 _"Oh for fuc-... fudge sake," she corrected. "You're one annoying kid, ya know that?"_

 _Naruto grinned and said, "Dattebayo!"_

* * *

After that meeting, Naruto stuck to Anko like glue. In fact, the kunoichi wondered how the hell the girl was able to track her down so easily. The Jinchūriki soon met Ibiki when she followed Anko into Konoha's Torture and Interrogation department. The two Tokubetsu Jōnin eventually got used to having the young girl around, and even taught her a few tricks.

Teuchi and Ayame, despite their business suffering from it, have never hesitated to feed Naruto. Even though ramen wasn't the healthiest food in the world, it became the blonde girl's favourite, so she ended up visiting the little shop everyday to spend the money the Sandaime gave her.

Ever since the Uzumaki could remember, the Sandaime had always been there for her. He would visit her in the orphanage, and when she was eventually kicked out of that, he visited her in her little apartment. He would buy her clothes and food until she was able to go into the markets herself, and he would provide her with money. He was like a grandfather to her, so she called him Jiji.

Unfortunately, he wasn't able to help her this time.

* * *

Naruto had been running for a good ten minutes now, and in that time she had dodged weapons of all kinds. A few had even managed to graze her. The girl was trying to get to a crowded place, but every time she was about to turn a corner towards the middle of the village, she was cut off by more of the angry mob. The closest she had come was running past a small group of people that were headed to the festival, but they either didn't see her, or they didn't care. Among that group of people were a few of her classmates: Yamanaka Ino, Haruno Sakura, Uchiha Sasuke, Inuzuka Kiba and Aburame Shino. The two girls had seen the mob chasing Naruto, but they thought they were just annoyed at a prank she had pulled on them. They probably would have thought differently if they had seen the weapons they were carrying or the Uzumaki's tear stained face.

When Shino saw the Jinchūriki, he immediately suspected that something was wrong. He began to follow her, but before he could take a second step, Kiba grabbed his arm. "Whoa there, buddy. Where do you think you're going? The festival is the other way."

"Yes, but Naruto..."

"Relax, dude, Naruto's fine. I bet she just went overboard with a prank and they're pissed. Besides, what's the worst that could happen? They're just civilians. Now come on."

Seeing the boy's point, Shino reluctantly agreed. The Aburame looked back over his shoulder as he walked away, but the mob was gone.

* * *

A few streets later, the Uzumaki was almost at the Hokage's office. She knew that if she was able to reach Sarutobi Hiruzen, or any of his ANBU, she would be safe. Speaking of the Anbu, where the hell were they? Surely they could easily hear the violent people behind her. Turning another corner, Naruto instantly regretted her decision.

"We got her now, boys!" someone from the crowd shouted. As they approached her, she back up until she touched the brick wall behind her. "There's no escape for you now, demon. This is payback for all those years ago."

They attacked.

Shuriken after shuriken. Kunai after kunai. Senbon after senbon. She knew how they acquired the weapons when a fairly young looking man with a headband approached her. He had short, dark green hair and a eye-patch over his left eye.

 _'Green?'_ she asked herself.

"You know what they say: 'an eye for an eye'," that was the last thing she heard before her vision went dark.

* * *

When Naruto awoke, the smell of anaesthetic invaded her nose. When she opened her eyes, she only saw the colour white. Realising where she was, the girl sat up, slowly due to her damaged body, and looked around. The hospital room she was in wasn't special; it looked just like all the rest, except for the various items that decorated the bedside table. The Jinchūriki picked up the cards and read what was inside them. All of them had encouraging messages from her friends. The next thing she looked at was the flowers that stood up in a small glass vase. They were red-orange tulips, her favourite kind of flower. No card came with it, so she had no idea who had sent them, but they made her smile.

The door to the room opened and the Hokage walked in, carrying a small package. "Hello there, Naruto-chan. How are you feeling?"

"I'm good. What happened?"

"You were injured. Badly," he sat down on the edge of the bed. "Naruto, there's something I need to tell you," he gestured to the left side of her face. Lifting her hand up, the girl was confused when she felt rough material cover her eye. She reached around her head and untied the knot that kept the bandages together. Slowly, she unwrapped the white material and let it fall onto her lap.

Hiruzen picked up a mirror, but before he gave it to his surrogate granddaughter, he said something to her, "Naruto... the man that attack you cut your face, and it was deep, deep enough to leave a mark. We tried to save your eyesight, but I'm afraid that the damage was too severe."

The blonde female used the mirror to look at the damage, and she gasped at the sight. The scar was slightly pink in colour, and it started a little bit below her hairline and ended just under her cheekbone. It also cut through her eyebrow, leaving a very small patch without hair. When she opened her eye, she was thankful that whatever had cut her, hadn't touched it.

"Even though the blade never marked your eye, it was coated in something that Konoha has never seen. Not even Anko, our poison expert, was able to recognise it. I can't imagine you wanting to walk around with a large scar on your face, so I got you something," the Sandaime handed the girl the package he came in with.

Naruto shakily opened it, still not over the shock of everything that transpired in the last five minutes. Inside the package was a plain white half-mask. It had an outline of an eye carved into it but that was the only decoration it had.

"I know you'll want to buy another one at some point, so this is only temporary."

* * *

Naruto was allowed to leave the hospital the next day so that she could recover by herself and train for the academy exam that was merely a few days away. She sat on top of a building with her chin resting on her hands. She sighed as she looked down at the people hurrying about below her in the marketplace.

 _'Why do they always want to hurt me? Sure, I play pranks a lot, but it doesn't hurt anyone. Well, maybe it hurts their pride, but I don't deserve to be treated this way all the time. And what's with them hunting me every year? It's always on my birthday...'_ Naruto sniffed and rubbed around her right eye when she felt tears gathering there. The soon-to-be kunoichi looked up at the Hokage mountain, specifically at the Yondaime. _'What would you do if you were in my shoes?'_ she asked.

She didn't get a reply from him, but she knew what he would say anyway. He would tell her to be brave and grow up into a strong ninja so that she could show them all what she could truly do, but what if Naruto didn't want that? What if she didn't want to take their bullshit anymore? All she has ever wanted to do was be acknowledged by them, and what does it get her? A scar on her face.

The Uzumaki stood up and clenched her fists, almost drawing blood. _'I'm so sick of this place. Ever since I was born, everyone has hated me for who I was. The lady at the orphanage never lifted a finger to stop the other kids from beating me up, in fact, I'm sure she rewarded them for it, and when I finally fought back... she kicked me out! Of course, I have met some people that were nice to me: Jiji, Anko, Ibiki, Teuchi, Ayame... those two...'_ Naruto growled and kicked a small stone off of the roof. _'Those two... I fucking hate them. They took me in, made me their friend, hugged me when I was sad, held my hand when I was lonely... UGH!'_

She jumped down from the roof and continued her inner rant. _'And then they just turned around one day and abandoned me! Why?! What did I do?!'_

The Uzumaki paced up and down a small alleyway just next to the markets. If she couldn't get the village's approval, then maybe she should get them to acknowledge her in a different way. That is the logical thing to do, right? Looking down at her clothes, she realised that an orange jumpsuit that screamed 'I'm here! Kill me!' wasn't exactly the most appropriate outfit for a ninja. The girl used a **henge** to turn into a twenty year old looking woman with brown hair and brown eyes. She also wore a plain green dress and black flats, and no mask or scar was present. Naruto was thankful that the Hokage gave some her money before she left the hospital.

The Jinchuriki walked around the marketplace until she found a suitable clothing shop for ninjas. Inside, she found a plain short sleeved black t-shirt, black cargo trousers, navy blue fingerless gloves that ended at her elbows and navy blue ninja shoes.

She walked around the markets for a little longer until she came across a stall that sold different kinds of masks. There were lots of different designs, and one in particular caught Naruto's attention. It looked kind of like a skull, except it was big enough to cover your entire face. On one side, it was plain white, and on the other it had dark red stripes. **(Just think of Ichigo's hollow mask)**

The blonde picked up the mask, placed it over her face and looked into a nearby mirror. She liked the design, except it was too flimsy.

"Hello, sir," she greeted the man behind the counter. "I was wondering if you had this mask's design with a more durable material? And I was also wondering if you could cut it in half?"

* * *

When Naruto returned to her apartment, she undid her **henge** and placed the new clothes she bought on her desk in her room, as well as her new half-mask, ready for tomorrow. The medic ninja that has treated her injuries had told her to get as much sleep as possible, so that meant an early night for her. When it was around eight o'clock, Naruto changed into her pyjamas which consisted of a white t-shirt with an Uzumaki spiral on the back and orange shorts.

As she lay in bed, staring at the ceiling, she swore she could feel someone watching her. It wasn't like they were in her home, or even outside... it was more like they were watching her, from _inside_ of her body. Naruto turned onto her side and closed eyes, trying as best she could to ignore the strange feeling and get a good night's sleep.

* * *

The Kyuubi Jinchuriki groaned when she woke up, the sun hitting her directly in the face and her good eye. She got up and read the time on the clock.

 _'Half past seven. All right.'_

Once she had taken a shower the young girl put on her new clothes and mask, which stayed in place due to seals that had been carved into the material. Naruto tied up her hair in a pony tail and left her house, heading for the academy. When she arrived at the ninja school, there was a couple of minutes left until their sensei was supposed to arrive. When she walked through the door, a paper airplane almost hit her.

"Oh shit, sorr- what the fuck?" asked Kiba when he saw his classmate. "Trying out a new look, Uzumaki? Or-" before he could finish his sentence, a hand pushed him away from the blonde and the Hyuuga heiress took his place.

"Naruto-chan! Are you alright? I heard about what happened from my father. Do you feel okay? Why are you wearing a mask? Who did it? I'll use my status to-" Naruto placed a hand over the slightly shorter girl's mouth. When Hinata appeared in front of Naruto, the blonde had to lean back so that the Hyuuga didn't accidently head-butt her.

"I'm fine. I'm wearing a mask because, why not? I don't remember who did it. There's no need for that, _I'm fine_ ," only when she finished speaking did Naruto remove her hand.

"What do ya think happened?" Shikamaru asked Choji, who was munching on a packet of crisps. The two boys were sitting at the back of the classroom.

"I dunno, but that mask creeps me out."

"Well obviously it's there for a reason, and I'm pretty sure it has something to do with Naruto being in an.. 'accident'."

"You think she was attacked by someone?"

"Hinata certainly seems to think so."

"Maybe she's just assuming things."

"Hm," the Nara wasn't totally convinced, but he didn't dwell on the subject, believing it to be too troublesome.

As soon as Umino Iruka walked into the room full of students, he frowned. Naruto stood not too far away from him with her back facing him, however he could still see the edge of her mask. When the attack happened, he ran over to the hospital as fast as his feet could take him and demanded to see his student, however he was told that no one was allowed access to her room until the Hokage got there. When he did see her, his heart broke at the sight of her bandaged body lying on the hospital bed. Iruka cleared his throat and told the students to sit down.

"As you all know, today is the day you all take your exam to see if you're able to become Genin. Mizuki and I will be testing you on ninja tools, taijutsu, genjutsu and ninjutsu. Follow me outside, and we will begin your first test."

* * *

 **A/N: All right, the first chapter has been completed. As you may have noticed, I have changed a few things around and added a flashback to when Naruto and Anko met. I felt that it was a mistake to not squeeze that event in the first version.**

 **I have also changed around how she got her mask and her thought process that ended with her hating the village. Another thing I changed is the relationship between Naruto and Kurama. Naruto hasn't met Kurama yet, but she will in the next chapter.**

 **I look forward to any reviews I get from you. Until next time!**


	2. New Ability and Team Selection

_Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto or any of its characters_

"Talking."  
' _Thinking.'  
_ **"Kyūbi /Jutsu."**

* * *

 **Chapter 2: New Ability and Team Selection**

Outside of the academy, the students saw their other sensei, Mizuki, standing next to five target dummies. Everyone stood in alphabetical order by their family name, so that meant Sasuke and Naruto were directly next to each other. They were not happy about that.

As it was getting closer and closer to Naruto's turn, she heard something that came from deep within her mind. The girl tried to ignore it, but eventually the presence became too much for her to handle, and she winced when a voice penetrated her head.

 **"Open your eye..."** the voice was deep and slightly menacing, but it didn't sound like a command. It was more like a suggestion.

 _'What the hell was that?'_

 **"Open your eye..."** this time, it was louder.

 _'My eye is already open, idiot.'_

 **"You dumb fu-"** the mysterious being sighed. **"Open your** _ **other**_ **eye."**

Although the Uzumaki wasn't sure about doing what an ominous voice told her to, especially since it just insulted her, she did it anyway just so it could shut up. She almost gasped out loud when she saw the difference in her vision. Everything was red, even the grass and the sky. As she looked around more, she noticed that the targets she was meant to be hitting with shuriken and kunai, were a golden colour, and all of her fellow students were a bright white. She also noticed that when she looked at one of the weapons on the table next to Mizuki, she immediately knew how to properly wield it and how hard and how high she should throw it.

 _'Okay, now I'm confused.'_

 **"So was I when I was around your age."**

 _'... What?'_

 **"Never mind, you'll get that joke later. I'll introduce myself when this is all over, but while you take this test, trust me and do as I say."**

 _'Oh yeah, cause listening to a voice in my head sounds like a_ great _idea. I'm definitely not crazy.'_

 **"Stop being an idiot and listen to me. When it's your turn, I want you to focus on the targets with your eye. You'll know what to do."**

 _'Okay... why are you telling me this?'_

 **"I'll explain it in more detail later, but just accept this as an answer for now: I want to crush that Uchiha boy's ego into dust."**

' _Fair enough.'_

As expected, Sasuke got five shuriken and five kunai right in the middle of the targets, so his score for this part of the exam was one hundred percent. Next, it was Naruto's turn and as the Uchiha walked past her, he smirked, thinking she was going to fail. The Jinchuriki just shot a glare at him and stepped up to the throwing line.

"Alright Naruto, you can take your time on this. Just pick up the first shuriken when you're ready and try to hit the target's centre," encouraged Iruka.

"Don't let her take _too_ long, Iruka; there are other students that need to pass too," the other Chuunin smirked.

 _'Bastard,'_ thought Naruto angrily. Ever since she enrolled in the academy, he had it out for her. He would try to sabotage her training, her tests, her weapons and her spars with other students.

The Uzumaki picked up a shuriken and focused on the targets with her left eye. Just like before, she knew exactly what to do. By the end of the test, everyone around her was shocked at her score: one hundred percent. The only person that was furious about it was Mizuki. He had wanted the 'Kyūbi Brat' to fail all the tests so that he could trick her into getting the Forbidden Scroll. No matter, she still had to do the ninjutsu, genjutsu and taijutsu tests.

* * *

The taijutsu test involved each student sparring with Mizuki for two minutes. Every time the student dodged, landed a hit on him or countered, they got a point. To pass this test, the student had to get at least ten points. A lot of people, such as Sakura, Ino, Shino and Shikamaru didn't think they would get more than ten due to them not having much talent in taijutsu, but they would still give it their all.

It was no surprise that Sasuke would get seventeen points: nine dodges, three hits and five counters. So far, he had the best score.

Mizuki grinned when it was Naruto's turn, because now he would be able to go at full strength. You see, when fighting an heir or an heiress to a strong clan, Mizuki was required to bring his level down slightly so that they would have a better chance at passing, but there wasn't any rules about fighting a Jinchuriki.

The first thing the Chuunin did was try to punch Naruto in the stomach, but she stepped to the side. Next, he tried to sweep her legs out from underneath her with his own leg, but she jumped over that, and when she saw an opening, she kicked his head with her foot while she was still in the air. Or at least, she tried to. Mizuki grabbed her foot and tried to slam her down, but she stopped herself by placing her hands on the ground and pushing against him with both of her feet. He was unable to stop her, therefore resulting in him becoming unbalanced. The Jinchuriki took advantage of that and elbowed him in the face, almost breaking his nose.

Mizuki recovered quickly and ran at her again with a fist raised. Seeing it coming, the girl side-stepped and grabbed his wrist, pulled it down harshly and kneed his stomach before punching the man in the jaw. As Mizuki was knocked onto his back, Iruka sighed. He had quickly realised why his fellow Chuunin was losing so badly: because of his hatred for the demon fox, Mizuki attacked Naruto in blind rage, therefore he wasn't properly thinking his attacks through.

After another minute, Iruka ended the sparring match and read out Naruto's score. When he did, many in the class were completely gobsmacked .

 _'That dobe shouldn't have been able to get five, never mind sixteen. At least she never beat me...'_ Sasuke smirked to himself, confident that he was still the elite in the class.

* * *

The next test was genjutsu. Each student was called into the backroom one at a time. When Naruto went in she immediately spotted the two Chuunin behind a desk, and on top of that desk were five shuriken.

"Alright Naruto, could you please tell us which one is the kunai?" asked Iruka kindly.

As soon as Naruto looked at the weapons in front of her, the brown haired Chuunin started the timer. After about ten seconds the girl heard the same voice as before. Not as sceptical as last time, she opened her other eye and examined the weapons.

 _'There's no way she's passing this...'_ thought Mizuki. When Iruka left the room to call in Naruto, Mizuki switched the genjutsu that was placed on the weapons from a D-rank to a B-rank. Not even Sakura, the smartest and the most talented at genjutsu in the class, would be able to crack it in time.

It took Naruto a while to get it, but after a while one of the shuriken became fuzzy and was replaced by a kunai. Instantly, the blonde pointed to the weapon. "That one," she said.

Iruka smiled an wrote down her time of 35.24 seconds, right after Sakura's time of 34.38 seconds, making Naruto the second best.

Never mind being furious, Mizuki was _livid_. This test was meant to be unbeatable for the Uzumaki. The Chuunin made sure to glare at the back of Naruto's head as she walked out of the room, a small smile on her lightly tanned face. Sasuke and Naruto's scores were almost tied, Sasuke just barely beating her with a time of 35.07 seconds.

The last test was ninjutsu, and the Uzumaki knew she was going to fail this. She could do the **Kawarimi** and **Henge** without any problems, but for some reason, it was impossible for her to produce a healthy clone using the **Bunshin No Jutsu**. When it was her turn, she walked into the same room the genjutsu test was held in, but instead of there being shuriken, there were blue headbands on the table.

"Alright Naruto, please perform the **Kawarimi** ," Iruka asked his student politely. Mizuki decided to remain calm throughout this test because he knew that Naruto would never pass this. The girl saw the log on the other side of the room and changed places with it. "Well done. Now, could you please **Henge** into the Sandaime Hokage?" Iruka couldn't see any issues with her transformation. "Wonderful. Finally, could you make a clone?"

 _'Okay Naruto, don't sweat it, just concentrate...'_

 **"Psst, baka."**

 _'You again? Who the hell are you?'_

 **"Let me take control of your chakra system-"**

 _'Ha, I may be stupid, but I'm not dumb!'_

 **"... Right... anyway, just do it! I can help you make a Kage Bunshin which is better than a regular clone, but only if you let me take control for a little bit."**

 _'I'm not just going to let a complete stranger take over.'_

 **"What have you got to lose?"**

 _'Good point.'_

The Jinchuriki wasn't entirely sure about what she should be doing, so she just relaxed her body, and when she felt something touch her chakra, she didn't protest. Her sensei was confused when Naruto just stood there, staring into nothing and was about to ask her if she was okay when another Naruto appeared next to her, without her using any hand-signs. This new Naruto was an exact copy, no flaws whatsoever. It even had a shadow! This wasn't a regular clone, and he didn't see her using any elements. So that could only mean...

" **Kage Bunshin**? Naruto, when did you learn that?" Iruka demanded, his eyes narrowing.

"Oh... a while back. Does it matter? I passed."

"I suppose-"

"Iruka, she can't pass! We asked for a regular clone, the kind we teach at the academy, not this!"

"Mizuki, we didn't ask for that. We just asked for a clone and she made one. Congratulations, Uzumaki Naruto. You pass!"

Mizuki snorted and leaned back in his chair, refusing to look at the blonde as she collected her headband and tied it around her waist.

* * *

 _ **The Next Day...**_

 **Naruto's P.O.V**

I had only been here for ten minutes and my head already beginning to hurt. First, that mysterious voice still hasn't told me who they are. Secondly, this class wouldn't shut up. And finally, Sakura and Ino were having a screaming match right beside me about who would sit next to Sasuke. For once I actually feel sorry for the guy. Sighing, I rested my head on hands and tuned out everything around me, but the scraping of a chair brought me out of my thoughts.

Sasuke, having finally had enough of the two fan girls, got up from his chair and began to walk away, however he never saw the foot casually sticking out from under a desk. He tripped.

 _'Haha, what a teme- wait, he's heading right for me!'_

I closed my eyes and braced myself for the inevitable impact and possible head trauma, but it never came. When I opened my eyes, I saw Sasuke's face incredibly close to mine.

 _'Hang on... hand on desk next to me, other hand on my chair, feet too far to be standing up correctly... he fell on me... and he's KISSING ME! SON OF A-'_

I pushed him off, hard enough to send him onto his ass. Serves him right. I stood up, ready to beat some manners into him, when I felt an enormous amount of K.I. I slowly turned around and saw Sakura and Ino cracking their knuckles with purple flames around them.

 _'Kami have mercy on me.'_

* * *

 **No One's P.O.V**

When Iruka walked into his classroom he expected chaos, after all, this was a room full of kids. _Ninja_ kids. But what he didn't expect was Konoha's Jinchuriki, the one feared by many in the village, being chased around by Yamanaka Ino and Haruno Sakura, Sasuke's biggest fan girls. The boy himself was sitting at his usual desk and glaring at something outside.

"I'll kill you!" yelled Sakura as Naruto slipped under a desk to dodge her fist. It was Ino that eventually got to the shorter girl. The two tumbled down to the front of the classroom, the platinum blonde on top and ready to possibly maim Naruto.

"Uh... bad time to enter?" asked Iruka. The majority of the class nodded their heads.

Naruto was holding onto Ino's wrists, effectively keeping them away from her. "It was Duck-Butt's fault!"

"Liar!" declared Ino. The Chuunin finally decided to intervene by grapping the two girls by the back of their shirts and pulling them apart.

"Where's Mizuki-sensei?" asked Hinata shyly as she fiddled with her hands.

"He's not going to be here anymore, but that's not important right now. What's important is you finding out what team you're going to be on and who your sensei will be," Iruka put Ino next to Choji and Naruto between Sasuke and Sakura. "All right, let's begin. Team 1..."

Naruto didn't bother listening to most of them, so she only paid attention when the names of people she knew were called out. "Team 7 will consist of Uzumaki Naruto,-"

 _'That's me.'_

"-Haruno Sakura,-"

 _'Ugh, whatever, I can deal with her.'_

"-and Uchiha Sasuke. Your Jonin sensei will be-"

"WHAT?!" exclaimed the Uzumaki as she slammed her fists on the table and stood up. "You... you can't team me up with... _him_ ," the blonde said in disgust as she glared at the Uchiha. He returned it with the same intensity.

"The teams aren't up to me, Naruto. They're up to the Hokage and he has his reasons. Now, as I was saying, your Jonin sensei will be Hatake Kakashi. Team 8..."

* * *

 _ **Three Hours Later...**_

"Where is he?!" yelled Sakura. She was walking up and down the front of the classroom. Sasuke was sitting with his feet up on a desk at the back of the room while Naruto was sitting at the front row, her arms crossed on the table and her head resting on them. So far, she didn't think much of her sensei. Naruto smirked, pulled out some ninja wire and kunai from her pouch and grabbed the blackboard eraser. She then threaded the wire through the kunai's circular hole and tossed the weapon up so that it was stuck in the ceiling. She then tied the eraser to one end of the wire and trapped the other end in the door.

"You baka, a Jonin isn't going to fall for that," Sakura said as she placed her hands on her hips and gave the shorter girl a disapproving look. The Uzumaki merely ignored her and sat back down.

 _'This'll teach this guy a lesson.'_

* * *

 _ **Ten Minutes Later...**_

A man with gravity-defying silver hair, a mask covering the lower half of his face and his headband hiding his left eye, stuck his head into the room. The eraser was let loose. It hit his head before sliding off and landing on the floor. The man didn't even blink, he just looked at the trio and sighed. "My first impression of you? I hate you, but I liked the prank. Meet me on the roof in five minutes," he said before he 'poofed' away.

"You were saying, Sakura?" asked Naruto with a triumphant smirk on her face.

* * *

 _ **On the Roof...**_

"All right, I want you all to introduce yourselves. Say your name, likes, dislikes, hobbies and dreams for the future. You first, Bubblegum," Kakashi said as he sat on the railing. Sasuke, Sakura and Naruto sat in front of him on the ground. Sakura, visibly annoyed at the nickname, instead asked him to give them an example. "Very well then, my name is Hatake Kakashi. I don't really want to tell you my likes or dislikes, I have a lot of hobbies, and as for my dream... I had a dream last night. Your turn."

"But that... oh, fine. My name is Haruno Sakura, I like..." she glanced at Sasuke and Naruto made a gagging noise. "My dislikes are Ino-pig and Naruto-baka. My hobbies are reading and flower arranging. And my dream..." she once again glanced at Sasuke.

"Okay, you next Emo."

"My name is _Uchiha_ Sasuke. I don't have a lot of likes but I have many dislikes. My hobby is training and my dream... no, ambition is to revive my clan and kill a certain someone."

"... Creepy. Lastly, you Mask-Face."

"My name is Uzumaki Naruto. My likes are ramen, and... uh... books. Yeah, books..." Kakashi raised an eyebrow when he recognised the familiar look of shame that many readers of Icha Icha have when they admit to reading the perverted novels.

 _'Oh ho ho, one of my possible students may already be corrupted. Interesting.'_

"I have too many dislikes to name, but the thing I hate most is this sorry excuse for a village. My hobbies are learning new jutsu and reading. My dream is... actually, I don't really know yet."

"Hm... okay. Well, first of all, I should explain something to you. You're not Genin yet. Every new team has to go through a test made up by their sensei. Out of the twenty-seven of you that graduated, only nine of you will pass this test. That's a sixty-six point six percent chance of failure.

"Anyway, get a good night's sleep and meet me at Training Ground Seven tomorrow at six in the morning. Don't eat breakfast and don't be late!" and with that, he disappeared in swirl of leaves.

* * *

 _ **Later that Night...**_

The young Uzumaki flopped onto her bed and closed her eyes. _'All that work and I'm not even a proper ninja yet. Faaaantastic.'_

 **"Well of course it's not going to be that easy."**

 _'You again! You have some serious explaining to do!'_

 **"Yeah, yeah. Shut up and go to sleep, I'll meet you there."**

 _'Huh?'_

 **"..."**

 _'Hey, come back!"_

 **"..."**

 _'Jackass...'_

* * *

 _ **In Naruto's Mind...**_

When Naruto fell asleep in her bed half an hour after speaking to the voice again, she 'woke up' in a dark place that looked a lot like a sewer. The girl began to walk around, not exactly knowing where she was going. All of a sudden, she felt a massive amount of chakra coming from somewhere to the left of her current position. With nothing else to do, she decided to follow it until she came to a set of very large metal bars that were at least fifty feet high and ten feet wide. There was a sheet of paper with seals written on it about half way up the gate.

"Um..."

 **"It's about time you got here. You don't have a great sense of direction, do you?"** the familiar voice came from inside of the gate, however Naruto couldn't see anything beyond the entrance.

"Are you going to show yourself or what?"

 **"I doubt you really want that."**

"Please?"

The thing growled and a pair of huge red eyes appeared from within the darkness. Then, before Naruto could react, the face slammed against the bars, creating a deafening sound. The face of an extremely over-sized fox was directly in front of the blonde, but it wasn't a normal fox. It's eyes and teeth were the first two signs of that.

 **"Is this what you wanted?"**

"You're very..."

 **"Frightening? Mighty? Powerful?"**

"I was going to say fuzzy."

 **"You little... come here!"** the beast yelled as it tried to swipe at the girl with its claws, but it's hand wouldn't fit through gap in-between the bars. **"Oh forget this!"**

The beast appeared to be giving up, but when flames began to surround it, Naruto took a few steps back in preparation. The Uzumaki expected an even larger creature, or perhaps the fox would use a jutsu to break free of the cage, but instead, a figure stepped out of the darkness and walked towards the Uzumaki. Shadows still covered them, but Naruto could clearly see that they were at least six feet in height, had long hair tied into a pony-tail and either had very tight clothes, or they were... oh Kami.

The beast, no, _woman_ had long, blood-red hair tied up and equally red eyes. She had nine, swishing fox tails that were the same colour as her hair and sharper than normal finger nails. Another feature, or should I say _features_ , that Naruto noticed was the fact that she was completely naked.

 **"How dare you! I am the Great Kyūbi no Yōko! I strike fear into the hearts of men, I have destroyed countless villages, women bow before me! I have- what are you looking at?"** her voice was a lot more feminine compared to the previous voice she had, but it was still deeper than the average female.

"Eh..." the Uzumaki's face was red as she shyly pointed to the woman's body.

 **"Oh, sorry about that,"** with a click of her fingers, a red kimono appeared on her body. **"Now, where was I? Ah, yes! I have a terrifyingly great arsenal of jutsu at my disposal, far greater than even your pitiful Sandaime Hokage's! My skills cannot be matched- okay, what is it now?"**

"Well, I'm still a bit confused here. If you're really the Kyūbi, then why are you here?"

 **"Oh... well... um... this is awkward."**

"So, are you going to tell me?" Naruto impatiently tapped her foot on the ground and crossed her arms. "Or do I have to go ask someone else, like the Old Man?"

 **"Whoa there, slow down. You seriously don't want to tell him that you can speak to me."**

"Why not?"

The Kyūbi sighed. **"This is going to be a long night."**

* * *

 **A/N: I know, it's been quite a while since I posted a chapter. It took me a while to start writing this, simply because I'm not used to writing yet, but I'm starting to get back into it. In fact, I actually had this chapter ready a couple of weeks ago, but my laptop broke and I had to get it repaired, which took some time. But I'm back!**

 **As you can see, I've already changed things by making the Kyūbi reveal herself to Naruto around the same time as Canon!Naruto first learned about Canon!Kyūbi, and I've also made Kurama reveal her true gender earlier as well.**

 **Another thing I want to mention is Sasuke and Naruto's academy scores. I didn't want Naruto to beat Sasuke simply because she only just got some Kyūbi-enhanced abilities while he has years of hard training, so it wouldn't be fair to have her become stronger than him this early on.**


	3. The Bell Test

_Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto or any of its characters._

 _'Thinking.'  
_ "Talking."  
" **Kyūbi/Jutsu."**

* * *

 **Chapter 3: The Bell Test**

 _ **Training Ground 7...**_

 **No One's P.O.V**

"Where are those two?!" Sakura asked no one in particular. She and Sasuke had been at the training ground for over two hours now and there was no sign of their missing team mate or their sensei. After all their years in the academy, the two expected Naruto to be at least ten minutes late (like she was for every class), but Kakashi? He was meant to be a Jonin, a high ranked ninja.

"Hey," Naruto said casually as she walked towards them, a half-eaten apple in her hand.

"Why are you late?" Sakura glared at the Uzumaki. "Sasuke-kun and I have been waiting for you since six o'clock."

Naruto took one look at Sasuke's face and winced. _'Poor guy.'_

"I was eating breakfast."

"For two hours? And you're not supposed to, Kakashi-sensei said so."

"Do you really think it's wise to skip breakfast before a mission? Besides, Kakashi is always late."

"Huh? How do you know that?"

"Let's just say, I got an anonymous tip," Naruto then decided to go sit down under the same tree Sasuke was sitting under, however she made sure to keep a good distance between.

 **"Hehe, I knew that brat would never get a better sense of time."**

Because of their talk last night, Naruto felt like she could trust the Kyūbi (to a certain extent). The Kyūbi explained to Naruto that she wasn't in control when she attacked the village all those years ago, and the Uzumaki believed her.

After all, why would an all-powerful chakra demon just randomly choose to destroy the strongest ninja village?

The fox also told her that she felt sorry for Naruto. She didn't want to be stuck inside Naruto, especially since the girl was blamed for the Kyūbi's actions, so when the blonde was brutally attacked not too long ago, the beast made a final decision. She would help Naruto grow into a strong ninja, strong enough to be able to show Konoha exactly what she can be. Speaking of strong ninja, that was when Kakashi made his entrance.

"Yo!" Kakashi waved his hand in greeting. His eye also looked like an upside down 'U', making it look like he was smiling from beneath his mask.

"WHERE HAVE YOU BEEN?!" screeched Sakura.

"Sorry, but I saw a cat stuck in a tree and I just had to save it."

"That took you two hours?"

"... There were a lot of cats? Never mind, let's just get started," he led the trio of twelve years olds to three logs that were stuck in the ground. He placed a timer on the middle one and pulled out two bells from his pouch. "To pass this test, you have to take these bells from me before the alarm goes off, which will happen at exactly noon."

"Um, sensei? There are only two bells."

"Congratulations Sakura, you know how to count! Yes, there are only two bells because not all of you will pass and become the new Team 7. The remaining one will have to go back to the academy with their head held down in shame. Any questions?" he took their shocked faces as a no. "Very well, begin."

Sasuke was hiding in a nearby bush, watching the Copy-Cat ninja as he just stood in the middle of the field, a book in his hands. _'Is he being serious? He's reading when he could be attacked at any second? What an idiot.'_

Sakura, meanwhile, was in a tree, using the foliage to hide herself. _'We have to get a bell from him? That's not going to be easy, especially since he's a Jonin. Despite having a book in his hand, I know that he's focused on his surroundings, so sneaking up on him isn't an option. I wonder if I can get Sasuke-kun to work with me, or maybe... no, Naruto won't be helpful at all.'_

Similar to Sakura, Naruto was hiding in a tree. With the Kyūbi's help, she was already piecing together a plan in her head, however there was just one problem. _' Kyūbi-san, the_ _ **Henge**_ _jutsu doesn't work like that, you can only transform into something that's the same height as you or slightly bigger, you can't transform into a pebble.'_

 **"You can if you're me. When you Henge your clones, let me overload them with my chakra. The raw energy that comes from it can 'bend' the rules of the jutsu, but only for a short time, so make it count."**

 _'All right, here goes nothing.'_

* * *

 **Kakashi's P.O.V**

 _'I can see Sakura's pink hair poking out from behind that branch, and there's Sasuke's foot just peaking out... now where's Naruto? Hm, strange. I can't see her anywhere, not even her bright yellow hair. Wait a minute, what's that sound?'_

My instincts told me to jump to the side, and just in time or I would've have a kunai sticking out of the back of my head. Just when I thought I was safe again, the kunai turned into Naruto. _'She used the_ _ **Henge**_ _jutsu to turn into a kunai?! But how?!'_

Naruto aimed a kick towards my head, but I blocked it easily enough and punched her in the gut, but instead of falling to the ground, she disappeared in a burst of smoke. _'_ _ **Kage Bunshin**_ _? From a Genin?'_

Just then, two more Naruto's appeared in a puff of smoke from below me and tried to punch me, but I just grabbed their fists and smashed them together, creating more smoke and dropping... exploding tags?!

 **Boom!**

* * *

 **No One's P.O.V**

The Uchiha and the Haruno could only watch the events play out with wide eyes. They could never have imagined the Dead-Last of the class being able to accomplish this.

 _'Who the hell teaches her? I must know!'_

 _'Oh. My. Kami. Who is this and what have they done with Naruto?'_

Just then, a figure jumped down from a tree a began to search through all the rubble. When she only found remains of a log, she cursed and looked around before fleeing back into the trees.

 _'It seems like she was always two steps ahead of me. Very impressive, however it's not good enough seeing as I still have the bells,'_ thought Kakashi from his place just behind a tree. _'Time to see how the others are getting on.'_

* * *

 _ **One Hour later...**_

After trapping Sasuke in a hole and fooling Sakura with a genjutsu, the Hatake decided to go back to the blonde Genin. The two were currently fighting with pure taijutsu. I say fighting, but really it was just Naruto trying her hardest to land a hit on the man, but she had no such luck

"Lesson one: taijutsu, complete. You completed lesson two: ninjutsu, when you used both **Kage Bunshin** and **Henge** earlier. Now, let's see how well you do with genjutsu," all Naruto saw next was Kakashi melting and disappearing. The girl opened her eye and even though everything was fuzzy, she was still able to see a large white spot above her in one of the trees.

 _'Gotcha,'_ she thought before throwing a handful of shuriken towards him. If the man wasn't already paying attention to the girl, his book would've been shredded into pieces. _'What?! But that was a B-rank genjutsu! How did she see past it so fast?'_ seeing her smirking face, Kakashi frowned. _'I'm going to have to talk to both Iruka and Hokage-sama after this.'_

"Nice try, sensei! But those bells are mine!"

"Not so fast, Naruto, because your time is up!" not even a second later, the sound of an alarm reached their ears. "Maybe next year, kid."

* * *

Sasuke, Sakura and Naruto were standing in front of the logs, in that order. Kakashi stood in front of them with his arms crossed. "I'm very disappointed in all of you. Sakura, you may be extremely intelligent, but one simple genjutsu and you were out. Sasuke, your skills with weapons and taijutsu are very impressive, you even managed to touch a bell, however you were easily trapped by my jutsu. Naruto, your ninjutsu and your ability to escape genjutsu is remarkable, however you wasted a lot of your chakra on your clones and **Henges**. Because of your skills, I will only tie one of you to the logs," in lightning speed, Sakura was bound to the log behind her with rope.

"What disappoints me the most is something you all have in common. You lack teamwork. I chose this training ground because it holds a memorial stone where the names of ninja that have been K.I.A are carved. Some of the names belong to family and friends I have worked with. You know what they all had? Teamwork," the three Genin looked down at the ground in shame.

Actually, only two did. The other one only did it because she didn't want to seem ignorant in front of the man that could possibly be her sensei for the next few years.

 _'That could be taken in a different way. What if teamwork was the cause of their death? What if a team mate got them killed because they depended on them too much?'_

 **"I doubt that was the case most of the time."**

 _'Hn...'_

Kakashi continued, "Now, I'm going to give Sasuke and Naruto their lunches, but if either of you feed Sakura, you all fail. After you have eaten, you can all try to get the bells from me again. Is that clear? Good," the Jonin disappeared in a swirl of leaves.

Ten minutes later, Sakura's stomach began to grumble. "Uh, sorry..." the pinkette said, clearly embarrassed.

"Oh screw it, just eat," Naruto sighed as she held out her chopsticks with some rice in-between them. "You're no use to us when you're hungry."

Sasuke then held out some of his food. "We may as well share it out equally so we all get the same amount of food."

Sakura was about to thank her crush and ex-friend when the mask-wearing man suddenly appeared in front of them. "I thought I told you NOT to feed Sakura! You dare disobey a Jonin who gave you a clear order?"

The Uzumaki had enough. She walked right up to the man looked him straight in the eye. "Well _you're_ the one that said we need to work on teamwork, so don't complain! We're not going to leave Sakura behind because we're a team now. _Is that clear_?" Naruto mimicked Kakashi's voice when speaking the last sentence.

"Yeah, we're a team. If you put our skills together, we can cover each other's weaknesses and work together without any problems. It may take some time, but we can do it," Sasuke stated as he gave Kakashi a confident smirk.

"That's right! I'm not going to look down on Naruto-ba- I mean, Naruto, anymore!" Sakura grinned from her spot tied to the log.

"You... you... PASS! Congratulations! Those who disobey orders are scum, but those who abandon their friends are even worse than scum. The test is over, and Team 7 starts its first mission tomorrow!" Kakashi gave them a thumbs up. "Let's go home."

Kakashi, Naruto and Sasuke walked towards the entrance to Training Ground 7, a small smile on each of their faces. They only remembered Sakura when they reached the gate. "Naruto, go get her."

"No way Duck-Butt, you go! You're the one she has a crush on!"

"No, you."

"You."

"You."

"Oh, just shut up," Kakashi interrupted them. "Naruto, you go."

"Favouritism..." she mumbled. The Uzumaki reluctantly returned to Sakura's side and undid her bindings.

"Oh... thanks," the Haruno said as she rubbed her bare arms. They were red from the rope being tied too tightly. Naruto tried not to look at the marks, but she couldn't help but feel slight anger towards Kakashi. It was unlikely that the man meant to hurt the pinkette, but he could have at least checked the ropes before leaving the girl there.

"No problem."

The two females walked in silence back to the entrance of Training Ground 7. When they noticed that the two males had left without them, they sighed mentally. Sakura glanced at Naruto, but because the smaller girl was on her right side, she wasn't able to see her face due to her mask.

 _'I want to ask her about it, but would that be invading her privacy? Would Naruto get mad? I don't really want to risk it, but... no Sakura, don't destroy a possible friendship with someone just because you're curious.'_

"Hey Sakura?" the voice almost made said girl jump out of her skin. She must have been further into her mind than she thought.

"Uh, yeah?"

"Why were you staring at me?"

 _'Well, here goes nothing...'_

The Haruno took a deep breath and said, "Whyareyouwearingamask?"

"Uhh..."

Sakura sighed and tried again, except this time, she would ask the question a bit slower this time, "Why are you wearing a mask?"

"Oh."

"I'm sorry if that's too intrusive, but you weren't at the academy for a few days and then on the day of graduation, you just appeared with new clothes and a mask, and don't forget this new attitude. I was just wondering if anything was wrong or-"

"Sakura."

"-perhaps I did something to make you upset. Was it because Ino and I used to shout at you for sitting next to Sasuke? Maybe-"

"Sakura!"

"-you fell out with Shikamaru, Choji, Shino and Kiba? Or Hinata? Come to think of it, didn't Hinata say something about an accident and her using her status to do something? Actually when you didn't turn up for class, Hinata got really scary. She wouldn't let anyone go near her-"

"SAKURA! SHUT UP!" yelled Naruto, attracting the attention of the few citizens around them.

"Sorry..."

"Jeez, you sure can talk. Look, my mask doesn't matter, it doesn't have any purpose other than intimidating people. That's all."

"Really?"

"Really. Now I got to go, my house is in that direction," the Uzumaki pointed to a random street.

"Ah, I see. Well, see ya tomorrow!" the pinkette smiled before continuing to walk to her home.

 _'Phew, I thought I'd never get rid of her.'_

 **"I didn't think she'd let you go after she started talking like she was reciting an essay."**

 _'Me too. Oh well, Sakura will be Sakura,'_ thought Naruto as she jumped up onto a roof and ran towards her house, which was in the opposite direction of where she pointed to earlier.

 **"It's still nice that she cares."**

Naruto snorted. _'Nah, she just wants to make sure her team mates are still strong enough to make up for her many, many weaknesses.'_

 **"That was a bit harsh."**

 _'It's true! Sure, she's really smart and she maybe has some potential in genjutsu, but that's it!'_

 **"She has excellent chakra control, far better than yours and the Uchiha's."**

 _'That's only because her reserves are almost in the negatives and the teme and I have too much.'_

 **"I still think you're being unfair."**

 _'Unfair? After what she and that bitch did to me, I'm being too soft. I could do a lot worse than talk about her in my head.'_

 **"Hey, watch it. She's trying. Hell, she might even make up for her mistake."**

 _'Mistake? No, what she did wasn't a mistake, she_ meant _it. Fuck, she probably doesn't remember because even that's too much effort. Now leave me alone, I've got stuff to do when I get home.'_

 **"Naruto-"** the Jinchuriki cut off the connection with the Tailed Beast. That was one of the perks about being the jailor and not the prisoner; you get the final decision on things.

* * *

 _ **Next Day...**_

"Emo in point A. Over."

"Bubblegum in point B. Over."

"... Mask-Face in point C. Over."

"Cyclops standing by. Mask-Face, you're too slow. Over."

"I don't like my name."

"Cyclops here, deal with it, and you forgot to say over. Do you have visual on the target? Over."

"Emo here, target is in my sight. Over."

"Bubblegum here, target is heading towards your position, Mask-Face. Over."

"Target is approximately five metres in front of me. _Over._ "

"Cyclops here, you are clear to engage, Mask-Face. Oh, and you forgot your codename. Over."

"I DON'T GIVE A DAMN! Over," without waiting for her team to respond, Naruto ripped off the headset and pounced on her target, which was a small ginger cat.

"Cyclops here, can you confirm that the target is Tora?" by this point, Sasuke and Sakura had arrived at the scene of Naruto wrestling the cat. And losing.

"Emo here, the target has a pink bow on the right ear. I repeat, a pink bow on the right ear."

"Cyclops here, that is indeed Tora the cat. Well done team."

"I swear, this is the Nibi!" [1] yelled Naruto as she was once again scratched by the feline.

* * *

 _ **Hokage Tower...**_

After giving back the cat (*cough*demon*cough*) to its rightful owner, Team 7 were given a list of more D-Ranks, however...

"No! No weeding, no babysitting, no shopping, no painting and no cat retrievals. I want a real mission, Jiji!" [2] the Uzumaki slammed her fists on the Sandaime's table, something she seemed to be doing a lot of recently.

"All right, all right, just calm down. I'll give your team a C-Rank mission," Hiruzen said calmly as he smoked his pipe. Probably weed.

"Wait, seriously? You're just going to give us a C-Rank? Like that?" even Sasuke had to admit that he was surprised.

"Yes Naruto, I'm giving your team a C-Rank."

 _'Wow, and here I thought Naruto was about to get a huge lecture about the ranking system,'_ Iruka thought from his place beside the Hokage.

"Oh... um... thank you," she said as she slowly stepped back from the man's table.

"Bring in the client!" ordered the old man, and about a minute later, a rather large male with a bottle of alcohol in his hand walked into the room.

He took one look at them and said, "Who are these brats? I asked for real ninja, not kids. And that little one, with the creepy mask, get your dates right! It's not Halloween!"

The mask comment, she could deal with, but being called short? This guy just stepped over the line. "Listen here you drunken bastard. I may be short, but I can pack one hell of a kick, so unless you want to be able to jack o-" Kakashi covered her mouth as fast as he could.

"Ahaha... my cute little Genin has quite the potty mouth, doesn't she? I apologise, but don't worry, I'm a Jonin and as long as I'm around, you'll be in safe hands."

"Well, okay. My name is Tazuna, and I'm an expert bridge builder. I need you to escort me safely to the Nami no Kuni." [3]

Tazuna seemed to be nervous about this, and that put Naruto on edge. When everyone had been dismissed, the Hokage was about to leave the office when a head of blonde hair stopped him. "Yes, Naruto?" he asked kindly.

"That Tazuna guy, he seemed really dodgy there. Could we maybe get another team to come with us? Just in case."

"I was thinking about that as well, so yes, you may. Team 8 and 9 are currently out on their own missions, so what about Team 10?"

"That's fine. Thanks Jiji!" Naruto shouted as she ran out of the room, feeling more optimistic about this mission than she was a minute ago.

* * *

 **A/N: Oh damn, another chapter right after the previous one. Nice, although don't expect that to happen very often because even when I'm really into writing, it's hard for me to find inspiration.**

 **[1] - Nibi means 'Two-Tails'.**

 **[2] - Jiji means 'Old Man'.**

 **[3] - Nami no Kuni means 'Land of Waves'.**

 **I'll probably be doing translations at the bottom of chapters from now on. Don't forget to review, it really helps me!**


	4. Trip to Wave, Part One

_Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto or any of its characters._

 _'Thinking.'  
_ "Talking."  
 **"** **Kyūbi/Jutsu."**

* * *

 **Chapter 4: Trip to Wave, Part One**

 _ **Konoha's South Gate...**_

"Why are you even here, Ino-pig? You're just going to slow everyone else down!" Sakura yelled at her ex-best friend. The two had been arguing for the last fifteen minutes, giving their teammates and the client a throbbing headache. Team 10, Team 7 and Tazuna were all waiting for the arrival of Asuma and Kakashi, who were both half an hour late. The tardiness could be expected from Kakashi, but it was unusual for the Sarutobi.

"Actually Sakura, _you_ would be the one to slow us down with your big forehead!"

"Pig!"

"Billboard Brow!"

"Pig!"

"Billboard Brow!"

"Pig!"

"Billboard B-!"

"Can you two _please_ just shut up? Continue arguing _after_ the mission if you want, but as long as I'm near you, be quiet!" it was silent after that. Chōji, about to put a crisp in his mouth, was frozen. Shikamaru sighed and looked away, believing this 'new Naruto' was too troublesome to deal with. Sasuke had an eyebrow raised. Tazuna was choosing to ignore Naruto in favour of drinking.

Ino, a hand gripping Sakura's top, was staring at the Uzumaki like she had just killed a kitten, while Sakura, with a hand holding the end of Ino's long ponytail, was just glaring at her.

"Don't you dare tell me to shut up, baka!" Sakura pulled her fist back and was about to show Naruto how she really felt about her, when a gloved hand caught her wrist.

"Now, now, my cute little Genins, save your energy for the mission," Kakashi, who was hiding in a nearby tree with Asuma, said as he appeared in a swirl of leaves behind the pinkette. _'Wow, what happened to 'I'm not going to look down on Naruto'?'_

"Can we go now, Kakashi-sensei? I feel like my head is about to explode," a very irritated Jinchūriki asked the man.

"Of course! But first..." Kakashi nodded at Asuma, who pulled out a piece of paper with names written on them. "This is the formation we will walk in. As you can see, Tazuna will be in the middle with Asuma in front and me in the back. At either side of Tazuna will be Sakura and Ino, it's your job to keep your eyes on the left and right side of him and block any attack coming your way. It's unlikely that they'll attack from this angle, so you should be all right. Chōji and Naruto will be at the back, between me and Ino and Sakura. You two can take a lot of hits, so if anyone decides to come at up from behind and get past me, you can protect our rear. Sasuke and Shikamaru will be behind Asuma, near the front. Sasuke can use his keen eyesight to spot any trouble ahead, and if he does, he can alert Shikamaru who can then trap any enemies with his jutsu. Any questions?"

"Um, sensei, isn't this just a simple C-Rank escort mission?" Sakura began to fidget from nervousness.

"Don't worry, there shouldn't be any trouble along the way, right Tazuna-san?" said man just gulped and nodded, although he wouldn't meet Kakashi's eye. "See? Nothing to worry about, the protective formation is only a precaution. Let's go!"

* * *

The bridge builder, although still anxious about the trip, was feeling more positive about the mission being a success. With all these ninja, nothing could go wrong, right?

Wrong.

All of a sudden, the two puddles in front of, and behind, the group of Konoha ninja evaporated, and two men took their places. The one behind the group launched a chain from his gauntlet towards Kakashi while the other did the same to Asuma, and pulled. Instantly, the two Jōnin were torn apart.

"Kakashi-sensei! Asuma-sensei!" screamed a few of the Genin.

"Two down," the man at the back said.

"Six to go," continued the man at the front.

Sasuke pulled out a kunai and threw it towards the enemy closest to him, pinning his chain to a tree. The enemy, realising he wouldn't have time to break free, snapped the chain just in time to dodge a kick from Sasuke. He tried to stab the young Uchiha with his gauntlet's claws, but the boy pulled out another kunai and blocked it.

Naruto tried to swipe at the other enemy ninja with a kunai, but he just kept dodging and deflecting her attacks. The unknown man tried to knock her feet out from underneath her, but she jumped and aimed a kick at his chest, which he caught. He threw her into a tree and made a bee-line for Tazuna.

With Shikamaru's help, Sasuke was able to knock out his opponent, however when he turned to look at Tazuna, his eyes widened. Choji, Ino and Sakura were frozen, leaving the client open to the other enemy ninja's attack.

"What are you doing? Stop him!" he yelled, but the command fell on deaf ears. Well, mostly deaf ears. Ino, having just barely heard her crush, shook her head and jumped in front of Tazuna with a kunai in a defensive position.

Ino knew she wasn't strong like Sasuke, and therefore wouldn't be able to completely block the man's gauntlet. She knew that if his weapon reached her, it would break her guard and pierce her chest.

The Yamanaka closed her eyes and prepared for the worst, but it never came. When she opened her eyes, she expected to see the enemy, however she instead saw a head of butter blonde hair. _'Naruto?!'_

The Jinchūriki was hunched over, gripping the ninja's gauntlet that was currently embedded in her lower torso. With a growl, she yanked it out and kicked the man in the chin, making him fall backwards. Instead of landing on his back, the man used his hands to spring up and land in a crouch, gauntlet at the ready.

"That's not how it happened in my head," Naruto said before grunting in pain and collapsing, however she was caught by the other blonde before she hit the ground.

"You're gonna pay for that, you little shit," the enemy said, but he froze when a swirl of leaves appeared behind him. Hatake Kakashi looked down at the ninja with disinterest, then with a quick swipe of his hand, he knocked him unconscious.

"Kakashi-sensei! Naruto's hurt!" Ino cried as she gently lay her fellow Genin down, completely forgetting the fact that she had seen him and the other Jōnin being torn apart not too long ago. The Jinchūriki's eyes were closed and sweat was beginning to build up on her forehead.

"I can see that. Asuma, do you have the medic kit?" the silver haired man looked over his shoulder. The man in question came out from the nearby bushes with a green pack in his hands.

"Of course. Ino, let me see her," Asuma knelt beside the blonde after his student walked towards the rest of her team and Team 7. The young ninja were standing a short distance away with Tazuna, and all of them (even Sasuke) were looking at Naruto's unconscious form with worry. When Asuma and Kakashi were sure the Genins were out of hearing range, they began to speak.

"Damn it, we never should have left them to fight these guys," Kakashi said. He was helping Asuma clean Naruto's wound.

"Don't blame yourself, we never could have known the Demon Brothers of the Mist would appear and not some common bandits. After Naruto is all fixed up, I'm going to have a word with our client."

"Good idea. Hey, Asuma?"

"Yeah?"

"Have you noticed anything strange about this?"

"About what? The mission?"

"No, Naruto's injury. Look, it's not healing. With the Kyūbi's abilities, it should be starting to close up by now."

"That... is correct. Pass me one of the gauntlets," Kakashi stood up and approached the unmoving form on the ground. After he tied the man's wrist together with chakra binders, the Hatake removed the enemy's gauntlet and handed it to his friend who then inspected the ends of the pointed fingers. "Ah, damn it."

"What is it? Poison?"

"Yeah."

"But that shouldn't be a problem for the Kyūbi. What do you think is wrong?"

"This is a weird one, but if I had to guess, I'd say it attacks the victim's chakra, and because the Kyūbi is completely made out of the stuff, it cancels out its healing. If only Anko were here, she'd be able to give a better analysis, maybe even a cure."

"That settles it then, we return to Konoha."

"No..." a weak voice from below the two men said. Naruto, with her visible eyes just starting to open, attempted to raise her hand up, but she was too weak and it fell. "Don't... don't cancel the mission... because of this. I can make it."

"Naruto, look at yourself, you can't even lift a finger without feeling pain. We can get you back to the village so you can receive proper medical care," the masked man ignored his student and turned to the rest of the Genins. "All right, listen up! Naruto's hurt, and we need to get her to some medic ninjas. Tazuna-san," the old man gulped and took a step back when the Jōnin began to advance on him. "You lied about this mission. These men are called the Demon Brothers of the Mist, Chūnin level ninja. They are above my students' current rank and therefore too dangerous. Obviously, they weren't behind this attack, so the next enemy we face is going to be stronger than them.

"Because of you, one of my students is hurt. Badly. When we get back to Konoha, you and the Hokage, who cares deeply for Naruto, are going to have a _long_ chat," Kakashi turned around and was about to go pick up the Uzumaki, however he stopped. Said girl was slowly getting to her knees. Her whole body, still in immense pain, was shaking. "Naruto-"

"Shut up," she said. Even in her weakened state, the girl ignored her own body's needs.

"Naruto, you don't have to-"

"I said, _shut up_!" Kakashi's eye widened in shock when the Uzumaki stood up straight. Her eye met his, and he was able to see the pure rage she felt at both him and herself. "We're not quitting this mission because of me, you got that?"

"She's right, we can't give up just because one of us is injured."

"Sasuke, don't start-"

"Kakashi-sensei, it's your job to prepare for the future, right? And in the future, when we're on important missions for the village, we can't stop half-way through. Besides, look at her! Naruto's willing to continue."

Kakashi looked to Asuma for help, but when the Sarutobi saw the determination on all of the Genins' faces, he shrugged. Kakashi sighed and scratched his head. "Well... I suppose we can continue. But if Naruto so much as stumbles along the way, we're turning right back."

* * *

The Konoha team was back in formation like nothing had happened, however they were all feeling anxious about what was to come next. Kakashi believed that the Demon Brothers were only the first wave, and that something bigger was approaching, so now everyone was on high-alert. Her face didn't show it, but the other Genins could see how much pain Naruto was in due to her slouching posture and heavy breathing.

 _'Damn it, why the hell did she do that?'_ the Yamanaka asked herself. Her eyes had never left Naruto's form since they started walking again. _'Out of everyone here, she was the person I least expected to save me... after all, I've done nothing but shit on every attempt she made to be my friend again.'_

Ino sighed and looked away from her ex-friend. When she was eight years old, Ino had met Sakura and Naruto at the entrance ceremony to the ninja academy. At first, the three didn't click, but it was Naruto that brought them together. The trio were practically glued together, and the only time they were separated was when they had to go home.

Two years later, the trio became a duo.

 _Flashback_

 _"Mother! I'm home!" a young Yamanaka Ino called as she shut the front door to her house and took off her shoes. The blonde girl walked into her family's kitchen where an older women with brown haired tied up into a bun was sitting in one of the three chairs around an average-sized table. The women smiled warmly when her daughter sat across from her._

 _"Hello, Ino-chan," there was something about her mother's smile that made Ino frown._

 _"Mother? What's wrong?"_

 _"Nothing, dear. Why do you ask?"_

 _"You're lying to me."_

 _The brunette chuckled. "You always have been able to tell when something was off. You're pretty much a human lie detector."_

 _When Inoichi had first found out about Ino's talent, he was ecstatic, believing that his daughter would have a great career in the T &I department._

 _"Mother, please don't change the subject. What's wrong?"_

 _The woman sighed. "How is Naruto doing?"_

 _"Great, why?"_

 _"Well... Ino, I want you to stop seeing her."_

 _"Excuse me?"_

 _"Ino, she's a bad influence. That girl has no discipline and will never amount to anything in life, and I don't want her dragging you down with her. Sakura is a wonderful girl, just play with her from now on."_

 _"I don't understand, what brought this on? I love Naruto-chan! Sure, she plays pranks on everyone and doesn't take a lot of things seriously, but she would never hurt anyone! And don't say those things about her!"_

 _"Ino-"_

 _"No!" the younger female stood up with tears building up in her eyes. "Naruto and Sakura both mean the world to me! I would never betray either of them!" Ino ran out of her house and continued to run down a familiar path, unaware of her pink haired friend running towards her for the same reason._

 _Flashback End_

Contrary to her declaration, Ino and Sakura had stopped speaking to their Uzumaki friend just a month later, and a year after that, she and Sakura split as well. The two years before the Jinchūriki's graduation was hell. No matter how many times she tried, Ino and Sakura never spoke to her, and eventually, they even started to yell at her for 'trying to steal Sasuke-kun'. Yeah, like Naruto would ever like him.

* * *

 **Naruto's P.O.V**

 **"Pssst, gaki** [1] **, do you hear that rustling in the bush over there?"**

 _'Well if you can hear it, then obviously I can too.'_

I pulled out a shuriken from my pouch and threw it towards the bush. When I heard it hit something, I ran over to the bush and separated it with my arms. Just below the weapon that was embedded into a tree, was a trembling white rabbit.

 _'Maybe I'm just being paranoid...'_

 **"Or maybe that's a distraction. It's spring, remember? That's a white rabbit."**

 _'Oh sh-!'_

Before I could tell everyone to get down, Asuma-sensei beat me to it. Apparently he had seen the colour of the animal as well. Immediately, Sasuke and Kakashi pulled Tazuna down with them, while Asuma grabbed Chōji and Shikamaru.

 _'So that leaves Ino and Sakura. Well, if we're all playing team mates, then I should- wait, hang on a minute!'_

Suddenly, something pink and red appeared in front of me and pushed me down while someone else cushioned my fall, presumably because they didn't want to make my wound worse. I closed my eyes from the shock of the fall, and when I opened them, I saw Sakura on top of me, covering the back of my head with her hand, and when I turned around, I saw Ino holding onto my shoulders so I wouldn't fall off of her.

"Not that I don't appreciate the both of trying to help me, but I would like you to _get off of me_!" I growled at them, and almost instantly, Sakura stood up with the rest of our comrades. I rolled off of Ino and stood up, dusting off any dirt that got on me.

"Zabuza..." I heard Kakashi say. I followed his glare to a man standing on a large sword that was stuck in the same tree I threw a shuriken at. The man had bandages wrapped around his face, a slanted headband around his head, stripped trousers and arm-warmers.

"Hatake Kakashi, the Copy-Cat ninja and Sarutobi Asuma, the Sandaime Hokage's son. It must be my birthday!" Zabuza exclaimed as he jumped down.

"Naruto, Sakura, Ino, get away from the tree!" Asuma ordered. We did as he asked without any questions.

"Stuck with some brats, I see. Couldn't fight two Chūnin without getting an injury? How sad," I growled as he mocked me. Now I want to tear his stupid head off.

"All right team, Asuma and I will fight him while the rest of you form a circle around Naruto and Tazuna."

I glared at Kakashi for making everyone protect me. I know that he's right, but it's still unfair. Sasuke and I are the only good fighters here (excluding our sensei and Asuma, of course), and even though Shikamaru's decent, the rest seriously need to improve.

"Good idea, Hatake. Unfortunately for you, a small band of brats won't protect the bridge builder."

* * *

 **Normal P.O.V**

All of a sudden, a thick mist began to surround the area, obscuring everything that was more than three feet in front of the Genins. Kakashi moved his headband further up his head so that his other eye was uncovered, and when the Genins saw the red and black eye, they gasped.

 _'That's impossible... he's not an Uchiha!'_ thought Sasuke.

"I'll explain this in detail later, but just know that a friend gave me this," the man said as he pulled out a kunai while Asuma brought out his chakra-blades.

"Eight points... the larynx, spine, lungs, liver, jugular vein, collarbone, kidneys and the heart. Which one will I choose?" Momochi Zabuza said from right behind them. The Genins turned around just in time to see Zabuza inside their formation, his sword raised above Tazuna's head. "I think I'll just cut his head off."

Time seemed stand still for the Uzumaki. Naruto could then hear a feminine voice inside her head. _"You want this mission to succeed, don't you?"_ the voice definitely wasn't the Kyūbi's, because her voice is rougher, so who could it be?

 _'Who are you?'_

 _"Do you, or do you not, want this mission to succeed?"_

 _'I... I do.'_

 _"Then protect them,"_ suddenly, the area around the blonde's right eye became warm, and the eye itself changed. Her pupil stayed the same, however a thick, light blue line appeared around the edges of the iris, covering at least half of the original darker blue, and multiple white dots formed another line within that light blue section. _"This is your heritage, the Roiyarugādo_ [2] _. Use it wisely, little Uzumaki."_

As soon as the voice disappeared, transparent images formed in front of Naruto, however as soon as they were completely formed, they vanished and another appeared. The Uzumaki was confused. From what she could see, they seemed to be weapons of some sort, all ranging from different types. Swords, axes, bows, daggers, scythes...

Not knowing exactly what she should be doing, Naruto reached out to see if she could make the images stop, however when her hand touched one of the weapons, it become solid. The kunoichi pulled whatever weapon she grabbed towards herself and gasped. In her right hand was the most beautiful blade she had ever seen. The handle was scarlet red with a silver ribbon wrapped around it, with the last few inches of the ribbon hanging off bottom. The blade itself was shiny, like it had just been cleaned, and the colour of it was almost unnaturally white.

When she was finished admiring the craftsmanship, a scabbard the same colour as the handle appeared on her left hip with a string attaching itself to the headband tied around her waist. Time continued Zabuza brought his sword down, the small blonde blocked his strike with her new weapon.

Zabuza almost stumbled backwards. How the hell did she get in front of him so quickly? And where did she get that blade?

He took one look at her eye, and the answers were clear to him.

"You little shit, you're an Uzumaki, aren't you?" he pressed down on her more, smirking when her body began to tremble.

"Maybe. Why do you care?"

"Oh, I don't, but maybe you should have stayed on your pathetic little island," he brought his sword back up for another attack, knowing that with her injury, Naruto wasn't going to be able to stop him this time.

Before he could bring his weapon down again, Kakashi came up from behind him and stabbed his lower back with his kunai, however he just turned into water. The blonde wasn't sure what happened after that, because as soon as the enemy ninja dropped out of sight, she sank to her knees. The katana she was holding vanished, right after her eye became normal again.

 _'What's happening?'_ she thought as she felt her upper body connecting with the ground.

 **"Your wound reopened, and now you're fainting from blood loss."**

 _'... Oh.'_

* * *

 **A/N: Here's another chapter and the start of the Wave mission.**

 **The reason that I'm rushing it a bit is because it's difficult rewriting a story. It gets boring, especially when I've already got so many ideas for the Shippuden timeline. Now you may ask me, "Well why did you rewrite this? Why didn't you just continue from where you left off?" Simply because I cringe when I reread the original version. The punctuation, the sentence structure and the dialogue make me feel embarrassed, and even though this version won't be anywhere near perfect, it will at least make me feel better about myself.**

 **Another thing someone commented on was the random appearance of the green haired man. I don't see how it's a 'random appearance' when I mentioned that a** _ **mob**_ **of people, consisting of both civilians and ninja, were chasing Naruto. If you were confused about why I mentioned his hair colour, then maybe you think he won't appear again. Ask yourself this: Why would I state his hair colour (a very unusual hair colour) if he had no other purpose than giving Naruto her scar? ;) ;) ;)**

 **(Psst, he's definitely making another appearance)**

 **As you can see, I changed Naruto's new ability slightly and her eye's pattern. I'm not entirely sure whether I should call it a** **Dōjutsu** **or a Kekkei Genkai. Her eye changes and she uses it to pick her weapon, but the ability itself is to summon weapons, so the eye serves no other purpose. When I think of the Sharingan users or the Byakugan users, their abilities lie solely within their eyes, and they're called Dōjutsu. When I think of Haku, his abilities are just his jutsu (his eyes don't change), and they're called Kekkei Genkai. Is Naruto's ability a mix? Some feedback on this would be appreciated, thank you :)**

 **[1] Gaki - means 'brat'**

 **[2]** **Roiyarugādo - Naruto's ability. It means 'Royal Guard' (the reason for this will be explained in later chapters, but it has a lot to do with the Uzumaki clan and my made-up history for them)**

 **If I got the Japanese for 'Royal Guard' wrong, then please correct me because Google translate is sometimes wrong.**


	5. Trip to Wave, Part Two

_Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto or any of its characters._

 _'Thinking.'  
_ "Talking."  
 **"** **Kyūbi/Jutsu."**

 **Chapter 5: Trip to Wave, Part 2**

* * *

 _ **A Few Minutes After Naruto Passed Out...**_

"Give me the bridge builder, and no one else gets hurt," Zabuza's voice was the first thing Naruto noticed, the second thing was the cold, hard ground that her face was pressed against. When she looked up, she saw Ino and Sakura standing in front of her and Tazuna, their kunai raised in a defensive position. The two were visibly shaking, but who could blame them? This was the first time they'd come up against someone so strong.

The Uzumaki looked around and saw Chōji and Shikamaru kneeling on the ground, while Sasuke was just beginning to stand up not too far away from them. Judging from their appearance, the trio had just been in a fight with the missing-ninja.

When she looked at the man himself, she frowned. He currently had Kakashi and Asuma trapped in two water spheres. There was also a clone standing in front of him, sword drawn.

 _'They were only fighting a clone, yet they still lost? Just how powerful is this guy?'_

"He's too strong, just run! Take Tazuna and get help, that's an order!" Asuma commanded the Genin, however no one moved. "What are you doing? Run!"

"You should probably listen to your sensei, you little shits, but unfortunately for you, you won't get very far," the Zabuza clone lifted the giant sword and ran at Sasuke, deeming him the slightly greater threat. The Uchiha managed to block the sword with a kunai, however the clone moved it to the side with the sword and roundhouse kicked him, making the boy sail into the side of a tree. Sasuke cried out in pain and clutched his side.

Naruto growled and used her hands to push herself up. The girl managed to get to one knee, but when she tried to stand up, she felt a sharp pain coming from her wound and was forced back down to her knees.

"Naruto?" Sakura asked, concerned about her team mate. When Ino nodded at her, signalling that she would keep watch, the pinkette turned towards the Uzumaki and helped her to her feet. The Jinchūriki had one arm over the Haruno's shoulders while the other was over the source of her pain.

"Well, would you look at that? The gaki's able to stand, with a little help of course. You should just give up while you can, you don't have to cause yourself unnecessary pain."

"With trousers like those, you shouldn't even be talking," Naruto smirked. The nearby Genin looked the Uzumaki in shock, wondering if she had a death wish.

"Oh? Do you really think you're in a position to mock me, little girl?"

"Yeah, I do," the blonde let go of Sakura, and with some reluctance, the pinkette let go as well.

 _'Okay,'_ she thought as her Dōjutsu activated, _'I need a ranged weapon. Anything would be nice.'_

As soon as she finished that thought, all the weapons that appeared before her changed until they were all some kind of ranged weapon. Bows, kusarigamas, javelins, throwing axes... the list went on and on.

 _'Oh, that kusarigama looks sweet! Let me just...'_ just as she reached out to grab it, it disappeared and something else took its place. _'I really need to learn how to control this thing so it doesn't FUCK ME OVER!'_

Instead of the chain-sickle the blonde was hoping for, she got a black bow made of some kind of metal. The upper and lower limbs were carved into flames and the grip had two spikes coming out of it, facing away from the wielder. Naruto's left hand fit perfectly between the two spikes, and just as she pulled it towards her body, a black quiver filled with arrows appeared on her back.

 _'Whoa... this is awesome.'_

"Not that again! When will you learn that your cheap tricks won't work on me, blondie!" the Zabuza clone rushed towards her. Naruto grabbed an arrow, placed it against the grip of the bow and pulled the string back.

 _'Now for the hard part: how the hell do I use this thing?'_

 **"Your other eye has the nifty ability to show you how weapons work, remember?"**

 _'I knew that...'_ Naruto opened her eye, and suddenly it became clear to her. She knew how far she need to pull the string back, where to aim, and when it was the right time to release. When the clone was only a few feet away from her, the small girl released the arrow and watched as it sailed through the air. Just as it was about to hit the stunned clone, who did not think she would fire an arrow so quickly or effectively in her weakened state, the tip burst into flames. As soon as the clone's shoulder was pierced by the arrow, it turned into a puddle of water.

The missing-ninja glared at Naruto before creating another clone without using any seals. "You think that just because you wear a headband, you're a ninja? Don't make me laugh. When you feel death breathe on the back of your neck as much as I have, you can call yourselves 'ninja'. When you become so deadly that your profile is entered in my bingo book, you can call yourself a 'ninja'. To call you little worthless specs of dirt 'ninja' is a _joke_."

The clone went through a number of seals, and when it finished, mist began to surround the area again. Naruto, Ino, Sakura and Tazuna all looked around nervously, and before any of them could react, a foot came from behind them and slammed into the Uzumaki's back. The girl was thrown forwards, her bow and quiver disappearing as soon as it left her hands.

The blonde groaned and sat up. "You are nothing, and you will never be anything. Your entire existence is a complete waste. The only thing you have going for you is your Dōjutsu, but you can't even control that. Pathetic," the clone smirked. The mist surrounding the area was too thick for anyone else to see what was happening between Zabuza's clone and Naruto.

"You watch your-!"

"Shut up! Someone as weak as you shouldn't even be walking this earth, let alone talking, and after I'm finished with you, you'll wish you had been killed at birth!" the clone raised his sword and brought it down, intent on leaving a deep mark straight down the girl's body.

Something the clone said must have hit a nerve within Naruto, because all of a sudden, she snapped. "I'm... not... _weak_!" instantly, everyone felt an ominous chakra fill the air.

 _'Is the seal breaking?'_ Kakashi asked himself, silently praying, to whoever that could be listening, that it wasn't. The sound of metal hitting against metal sounded throughout the small clearing.

"What the... what are you?" the Zabuza cloned asked Naruto, who was below him, blocking his strike with a weapon of her own. The weapon itself was slightly bigger than the kitana she had prevously, and it had a completely different shape. The blade had metal points, the same shape as the tip of a normal kitana, coming off of one side with the biggest point being at the very top of the blade. It was also half white and half black, the white half being the side with the points. The blade also grew in width the further it was to the top. The handle was white with a black braid going around it. **(Think of Renji's sword from Bleach)**

" _Your worst nightmare!_ " one red eye glared straight through him, and with a burst of strength the girl never knew she had, she threw the Zabuza clone off of her. Of course, it didn't fall over. Instead, the clone did a back flip and landed on its feet.

 _'What kind of chakra is that? I've never felt anything like it!'_

Naruto jumped up and held her sword out in front of her, completely ignoring her injury like it was nothing. " _You're the only weak one here!_ " Naruto rushed forward and aimed for the clone's stomach, but it easily blocked the strike. She aimed for its head this time, but again, the clone blocked. This went on a few more times before the clone spotted an opening and kicked the girl back.

 _'She may not be skilled enough to hit me, but the fact that she was able to get up and try was impressive. The faster I kill her, the better.'_

Naruto was on her back, sword gripped tightly in her hand and knocked out of whatever state she was in. The Uzumaki blinked in confusion when she saw the new sword, not having any memory of how it came into existence. _'When did I-?'_

 **"You got angry and a bit of my chakra leaked out. You weren't in control, so don't worry about it."**

 _'That can happen?'_

 **"Yeah, and it's not the first time either, but sometimes Jinchūriki don't remember how or why it happened."**

 _'Oh. Did I hurt anyone?'_

 **"Maybe that guy's ego, but other than that? No. Hey, look out!"**

In a burst of red chakra, Naruto was thrown to the side, just as the clone's massive sword struck the ground where she was just a moment ago. _'How did you do that? I thought I had to concentrate to let you have access to my body.'_

 **"Normally, yeah, but in your weakened state, it's slightly easier for me. But don't expect me to do it again, because that took a lot of work, and it only nudged you a couple of feet to the side."**

 _'Well, thanks anyway,'_ Naruto stood up again and glared at Zabuza's clone, however before either of them could make a move, the mist cleared and two shuriken were sent the clone's way. It easily dodged them. _'Who...? Oh.'_

"You didn't think I'd let you get all the glory, did you? Hn," Sasuke appeared by Naruto's side, almost completely recovered from his slight injuries.

"Of course not, I was just waiting for you to get up off your fat ass."

Sasuke just smirked. "So, what's the plan?"

"We can't take him, not like this, so we need to free Kakashi-sensei and Asuma-sensei."

"Hn, easier said than done."

"Just follow my lead, teme," Naruto ran towards the clone with her sword.

"Oh come on, not that again!" the clone laughed and when the blonde was close enough, it dodged her attack and used the flat side of his blade to knock her back. "You know I was going to make your death quick, but now I think I'd like to play first. You just make me laugh so much!"

As Naruto skidded along the path, her sword disappeared and instead she looked for a different weapon. _'Come on, come on, come on... aha!'_

"Sasuke! Catch!" Naruto threw a fūma shuriken towards the Uchiha. The boy caught it, and when he did, he instantly knew what Naruto was planning.

 _'Nice one, dobe. Maybe you're changing for the better.'_

Sasuke leapt into the air, and with a battle-cry, he threw the weapon towards the clone. The rest of the Konoha ninja were surprised when he did that, thinking that a direct attack would never work, but they smiled when the shuriken twisted in mid-flight and was instead going towards the real Zabuza.

"So, you decided to go for my body. Sorry to disappoint, but that's not going to work!" the real Zabuza, despite having both hands occupied and was therefore unable to catch the shuriken, smirked and waited. Just before the weapon hit him, he jumped into the air and tucked his legs against his chest, resulting in the weapon going straight past him. "Nice try!"

"Don't count us out yet," Sasuke crossed his arms and smirked again.

 _'What?'_ Zabuza twisted his body around to look at the shuriken, and when he did, his eyes almost popped out of his skull. _'That's impossible!'_

In a small cloud of smoke, the shuriken disappeared and was replaced by one of Naruto's own clones. The clone was also holding the same black bow the real Naruto had earlier. "Try to dodge this!" it cried out before it released a flaming arrow.

Zabuza glared at it. _'Damn you, Uzumaki!'_

The missing-ninja decided he rather liked not having any arrows sticking out of him, so he chose to sacrifice his hold on Asuma and Kakashi and jump away from the attack. "Why you little... I'll kill you!" Zabuza turned to face the real Naruto, who was standing just a few metres from shore with Sasuke, and raised his sword. Just as he was about to throw the over-sized weapon, Asuma appeared in front of him and used his trench knives to block the attack.

"Nice one, you two, but Kakashi and I will deal with this bastard from now on," Asuma made a swipe at Zabuza, but the man easily backed off and created some distance between him and the two Jōnin. " **Fūton: Spiraling Blast**!" Asuma called out as he placed one hand on his chest and used the other to cup his mouth. The man breathed in, and when he exhaled, an extremely strong gust of wind escaped from his mouth. The wind was strong enough to create moderately sized waves, big enough to make Zabuza almost lose balance.

 _'I... can't breathe!'_ Zabuza thought as he clutched his throat with his hands.

" **Katon: Raining Fire**!" Kakashi shouted out. With his hands in the tiger sign, the Copy-Cat ninja was somehow able to breathe out giant fireball from his mouth _with his mask on_. When the fireball was in the air, it broke apart and about a dozen or so smaller fireballs shot back down.

Zabuza, who was still trying to get back the ability to breathe, was hit by two of the fireballs with enough force to send him underwater. A few seconds later, the wind stopped and Zabuza resurfaced. The man was breathing heavily and had two large burns on his chest.

"Hehe... you think... _that_ will stop me? Think again!" the Momochi jumped back on land and prepared to use a water jutsu, however before he could complete the first sign, he was struck in the back of the neck with two senbon. Zabuza fell forward face first, seemingly dead.

Kakashi and Asuma were about to check the body when a strange ninja, wearing a white mask, jumped down from a nearby tree. The ninja pressed two fingers to Zabuza's neck, and when he seemed satisfied, he placed one of the missing-ninja's arms around his neck.

"Thank you for your assistance. I have been hunting this one for a long time."

"Who are you?" asked a very confused Sakura.

"I am a hunter-ninja from Kirigakure. Two months ago, I was tasked with hunting down and killing Momochi Zabuza. A hunter-ninja's sole purpose is to find and destroy the bodies of other ninja who have become traitors to our village so that other villages don't find out our secrets. Once again, thank you for your assistance," and with those final words, the man disappeared with Zabuza's body.

"Well then, I believe it's time to-"

"Asuma-sensei!" Shikamaru called out. He and Sasuke were supporting Naruto who had suddenly become very limp. Her face was contorted in pain and quiet groans were coming from her mouth. The two Jōnin ran over to the young girl and checked her over.

"Kakashi, it's getting worse. The adrenaline she was running on has run out and now- Kakashi?" when Asuma turned to face the other man, he almost face-palmed. The Hatake had fallen unconscious and was now slumped against a tree. "Well this is just _great_."

"Is he okay?" Sakura asked as she, Ino and Tazuna ran over. The bridge builder was panting slightly from the short run, a hand on his hat to keep it from flying off.

"Yeah, that sometimes happens when he uses his Sharingan for too long. The eye isn't his, so it takes a lot of chakra to use."

"So he stole it?" the Uchiha clenched his fist and glared at his sensei.

"No, of course not! It's not my story to tell, but if you're desperate to know, then ask him when he wakes up. Tazuna-san, how long until we get to your house?"

"Uh, I'd say another ten minutes or so."

"Good. I'll take Kakashi," the Sarutobi placed the Copy-Cat ninja over his shoulder. "Can one of you take Naruto? But be careful with her wounds."

Shikamaru sighed and said it was too troublesome, so he just followed Asuma. Chōji claimed that he's too clumsy and would probably drop her. Sasuke basically just ignored her, and even though Tazuna offered, Ino and Sakura just glared at him. Like hell they would let a drunken old man touch Naruto.

The two kunoichi looked at each other, nodded and then held out their fists. "Rock, paper, scissors!"

Draw.

"Rock, paper, scissors!"

Draw.

"Rock, paper, scissors!"

Draw.

"Oh this is stupid. Why are we even arguing about this? She saved _my_ life, so I'll just do it. You're probably too weak anyway, Billboard Brow!"

"Hey, she's _my_ team mate! I'll do it, Pig!"

"Billboard Brow!"

"Pig!"

"Billboard Brow!"

"Pig!"

"Billboard-"

"You two are pathetic," Sasuke made a noise of disgust as he frowned at the two bickering girls in front of him. When he heard the beginnings of a fight between the two, he knew that at this rate, the Uzumaki would die before she even started to get treatment. The boy picked up his blonde team mate as gently as he could with one arm under her shoulders and the other under her knees. "Come on."

Sasuke began to make his way back towards the rest of the group. Ino and Sakura crossed their arms and pouted, upset about their crush insulting them. It took them a few seconds, but they soon they both sighed, dropped their arms and followed Sasuke.

* * *

 _ **A Couple of Minutes Later...**_

"You know, Sakura..." Ino nudged the pinkette's arm. The two kunoichi were walking at the back of the group with their heads hanging down. Sasuke was walking a few feet in front of them with an unconscious and occasionally fidgeting Naruto. "Sasuke-kun is right. That was probably one of the worst times to start fighting. A team mate was bleeding out right in front of us."

"Yeah. When did we become so wrapped up in ourselves? It never used to be like this..."

"The things we do for boys, right?" the Yamanaka let out a small laugh, however Sakura didn't join her.

"No, it's something else. When we first started to fight, right after I told you about my feelings for Sasuke-kun, the most we did to each was call one another names. It was like, for a time, we had a guardian angel that somewhat kept our bond together."

Ino looked at Sakura for a moment before her eyes suddenly widened from realisation. "Naruto."

"Huh?"

"Naruto. She was there."

"What do you mean? We split from her a year before we fell out."

"I know that, baka! But don't you see? She was always there! Making jokes, getting in trouble, showing off... _Naruto_ was always there! I guess, somehow, she stopped us from going too far."

"But what changed? We began to actively have it out for each other a year ago, and in that time, Naruto has always been... well, Naruto."

"I-"

"Come on you two, hurry up! We're almost there!" the blonde was interrupted by Chōji who was waving at them from Asuma's side.

The kunoichi sighed and started to lightly jog to catch up. "Later?" Sakura asked.

"Later."

* * *

 **A/N: Well, that was fun.**

 **I said it in the last story, but I'm going to say it again: Any jutsu that is written in English is either something that isn't in canon, or I couldn't find the Japanese for it. With the Raining Fire and Spiralling Wind jutsu, I can't remember where I originally got them from, but I know they aren't in canon.**

 **As you can see, Ino and Sakura have started to realise that even though they cut Naruto out of their lives, she was still there for them, just not in the way they'd expect. In a couple of chapters or so, I'll give more of Naruto's perspective on how things went down after the 'break-up'.**

 **Despite Christmas being over, the next chapter I post is going to be Christmas themed. It won't impact the story in any way as it is set in Shippuden. Orochimaru will have never put a Curse Seal on anyone, no one will have died, and Naruto is ever so slightly friendlier towards everyone.**

 **The Christmas chapter's main focus will be on Naruto, Ino and Sakura and the latter two's battle for Naruto's affections, so I hope that'll satisfy anyone that's been craving some NaruSakuIno interaction.**

 **P.S. There is a poll set up on my profile for background pairings. I don't know if they will have an effect on the story, but I'd like to get some of your input. Maybe I'll add a couple of the more popular ones into the story. Who knows?**

 **Some people have already voted, and it seems like Anko/Naruto is a favourite ;)**

 **All reviews are very much appreciated!**


	6. Trip to Wave, Part Three

_Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto or any of its characters._

 _'Thinking.'  
_ "Talking."  
 **"** **Kyūbi/Jutsu."  
** _ **"Inner Sakura."**_

* * *

 **Chapter 6: Trip to Wave, Part Three**

"Tsunami! I'm home, and I brought the ninja with me!" Tazuna shouted as he opened the door to his home. Team 10 and Team 7 followed closely, shutting the door behind them.

"Otou-san!" a woman with long, dark blue hair came to greet the new arrivals. She was average height and wore a pink short-sleeved t-shirt and a long blue skirt. "Are you okay? What happened?" she asked when she saw the two ninja being carried.

"Two ninja attacked us, leaving Naruto injured and poisoned. And then a very powerful missing-ninja made Kakashi get chakra exhaustion," Asuma explained while gesturing to the unconscious members of Team 7.

"I see. Go upstairs and enter the last room on the right, your teammates can rest there. I'll be up shortly to clean the girl's wounds."

"Thank you, Tsunami-san," Asuma bowed slightly and took Kakashi upstairs. Sasuke followed him with Naruto, everyone else close behind him. They placed Naruto and Kakashi side-by-side in two different futons, and a couple of minutes later, Tsunami entered with a medical kit in her hands.

The woman started by lifting up Naruto's t-shirt so the wound was exposed, then she began to disinfect it with rubbing alcohol. While this was happening, Asuma decided to go over the fight with Zabuza in his head.

Noticing his sensei's puzzled expression, Shikamaru asked, "Asuma-sensei, is there something wrong?"

"Hm... possibly. Do you remember what happened when that hunter-ninja took away Zabuza's body?" Shikamaru frowned, looked away and then sighed a few seconds later.

"Huh? What is it?" Chōji asked.

"Zabuza is still alive... how troublesome."

"Wait, what?!" she turned to Asuma. "Are you kidding me? That psycho is still alive?! How?!"

"Hunter-ninja are supposed to dispose of the body immediately so no mistakes are made, and he used senbon, a type of ninja tool that isn't lethal unless you hit a critical spot. He didn't kill Zabuza, he saved him."

"Eh, I'm sure you're just thinking about it too much..." Tazuna laughed nervously while scratching the back of his head.

"If a ninja believes that something is wrong, he must prepare himself before it's too late. That's one of the first rules of being a ninja." Asuma looked at the variety of expressions on the Genins' faces. Chōji looked terrified, as expected, and Ino and Sakura looked like they were experiencing the same. Shikamaru looked bored and Sasuke... _'It looks like he's excited about Zabuza being alive. I'm not really surprised, he's always loved a challenge, especially one that makes him stronger. I just hope he doesn't act irrationally.'_

"Asuma-sensei, how are we supposed to prepare for this? You and Kakashi-sensei almost lost to Zabuza before, and now Kakashi's injured. Not to mention that fake hunter-ninja will probably be with him this time."

"Don't worry, Ino. Last time, Kakashi and I weren't fully paying attention to the fight because we were too worried about you, but that won't happen again. I'm going to train you, and if Kakashi wakes up before we start, he'll help."

"Train us? We don't have enough time! There's no way you can make us strong enough to fight Zabuza in just a few days!"

"Ugh... what's this about fighting Zabuza?" Kakashi groaned and sat up, placing his hand against his aching head.

"Kakashi-sensei!" Sakura exclaimed. "Are you all right?"

"I'll be fine in a couple of days. What did I miss?"

By the time Asuma finished filling Kakashi in on his new discovery, Tsunami had cleaned Naruto's wound and bandaged it up. She was going to comment on the strange way it slowly healing, but decided against it, thinking it was probably just some kind of ninja technique.

"All done!" Tsunami began to pack away her medical supplies.

"Thank you very much, Tsunami-san," Kakashi bowed his head.

"It's the least I could do, you guys did bring my father back home safely. I'll go prepare some lunch for everyone, so please join me downstairs soon," she left with Tazuna.

"Sasuke, Chōji, Sakura, you three have experience with cooking. Go help Tsunami-san." The Uchiha wanted to protest, but Kakashi gave him, 'The Look'.

"Yes, sensei," he mumbled before following the other two Genin out of the room.

"Actually, why don't you two go help as well? I'm sure the table needs to be set."

"Wha-!"

"Ino, Shikamaru, go."

"Ugh, fine!" the two got up and left the room, however before Ino shut the door behind her, she glanced at Naruto and frowned.

When all the Genin were gone, Asuma turned to Kakashi. "Did you want to speak alone?"

"How is she?" the Copy-Cat ninja turned his head to look at his student as he asked this. "Any improvement on her condition?"

"Not from what I can see. Should we send Pakkun to get Anko?"

"No, there isn't any point. By the time she gets here, this mission will have ended. Besides, she might be on a mission on foreign land."

"Then what should we do?"

"There's nothing _we_ can do."

"But you already said-"

"I know what I said, but it's a very powerful being. The strongest of them all. Let's hope that it can pull through," Kakashi sighed and looked out a nearby window. From here, he could see the salty sea beat heavily against the rocky shore relentlessly. It was unfortunate that Konoha wasn't situated near water, because to him, this was quite relaxing.

* * *

 _ **Downstairs...**_

Once Sasuke, Shikamaru, Chōji, Ino and Sakura finished helping Tsunami, they sat down around the table that was in the middle of the dining room. Shikamaru and Chōji kept to themselves on one end of the table, Sasuke was being a loner, as usually, at the bottom of the table and Ino and Sakura were talking to each opposite the former two. The topic of their discussion was, of course, Uzumaki Naruto.

"Do you think she'll be okay?" asked Ino.

"Why are you asking me?"

"I know that you've read medical books before."

"Well yeah, but only basic ones. I don't know anything about getting stabbed by a clawed gauntlet!" at this, Ino looked away shamefully. "What's wrong?"

"It should've been me. Why did she do it?"

"Again, why are you asking me? I can't see into Naruto's mind. Even if I could, I doubt I'd be able to make any sense of it."

Ignoring Sakura's comment, Ino continued, "I just don't get it. After we... _abandoned_ her, surely she'd hate us, right? And yet, she saved my life."

"Well, she is called _Konoha's Number One Unpredictable Ninja_ ," both of the girls giggled at the title. Only Naruto would be called that... well, the old Naruto. Who is she now?

"Sasuke-san?" Tsunami asked from the doorway that connects the kitchen and the dining room.

"Hm?" he replied, looking up from the kunai he was sharpening.

"Could you please tell Kakashi-san and Asuma-san that dinner is ready?"

"Sure," said Sasuke as he stood up. Usually he wasn't this polite to people, but even he knew that you shouldn't be rude to people that are feeding you and giving you a place to stay, mission or not.

* * *

 _ **After Dinner, Outside...**_

In a clearing not too far away from Tazuna's house, the Konoha Genin were standing in a line. Sasuke, Sakura, Ino, Shikamaru and then Chōji. In front of them stood Asuma and Kakashi, the latter using crutches to support himself.

"All right you five, Asuma and I are going to teach you something important, something that'll make you stronger, possibly strong enough to hold your own against Zabuza's clones," this instantly got Sasuke's attention.

"Yes, that's correct. You all know how to use jutsu, right? You use your chakra to perform them, but do you know how to control your chakra?" when Asuma received strange looks, he explained. "When you use your jutsu, you use up chakra, and if you don't know how to control chakra properly, you will end up using _all_ of it, making you completely useless in a battle. All you will be is a target."

"How do we fix that?" Sasuke asked. The last thing he wanted to be was a _target_.

"You train so hard that controlling and shaping chakra becomes second nature."

"W-what do we have to do?" Sakura asked.

"... climb a tree," said Kakashi while eye-smiling.

"Climb a tree?!" exclaimed Sasuke, Sakura, Ino and Chōji. Shikamaru merely sighed.

"Yup. The only rule is you can't use your hands."

"No hands? You're kidding."

"Am I, Sakura? Let's see. Asuma?"

The Sarutobi nodded before walking towards one of the many trees around the group. The Genin watched closely, wondering if this was all a trick. It wasn't.

Asuma was easily able to walk up the side of the tree, and he acted like he hadn't even left the ground. When he returned, he smirked at the Genins' shocked faces. "Simply direct your chakra to the soles of your feet and you'll be able to walk up the tree."

"Wait a minute, how does that help us defeat Zabuza?" Sasuke was annoyed. He believed that the men were going to teach him a powerful jutsu, not... whatever this was!

"It's the _only_ way to beat him. If you are able to focus your chakra to the soles of your feet, the most difficult place, then you can master any jutsu... theoretically. Now, pull out a kunai and get to work. Mark your highest progress point each time, then aim to beat that. Understood?" when the Genin all nodded towards Kakashi, the Jōnin smiled. "Good. Because you're just starting out, run instead of walk. Ready? Go!"

And there they went. All five of them ran at different trees. _'I_ will _master this!'_ thought the Uchiha.

"WAIT!" the command made the Genin suddenly halt. A couple of them even had to grab onto the tree to avoid smacking their head against it. The Konoha ninja turned towards the voice, and when they saw the source, their eyes widened.

"Naruto? What are you doing? You should be resting," Kakashi scolded his student.

"I'll rest when I can climb a tree with no hands. What? Did you really think I'd let everyone else get ahead of me?" the Uzumaki angrily stomped over to them. The only sign of her injury was the torn t-shirt and her slight limp.

"You're badly injured. If you do this, you could reopen the wound."

"Bite my entire ass."

"Naruto-"

"BITE!" the blonde began to run towards a tree, "MY!" she started running up the side of it, "ENTIRE!" the kunoichi managed to get to around twelve metres up before the wood underneath her foot cracked, "ASS!" quickly, she pulled out a kunai, cut the tree just above the mark her foot left, and then back-flipped off, landing perfectly.

"Well... okay then," Asuma chuckled. "Come on Kakashi, let's go sit on that rock over there and let the kids train."

Kakashi shook his head lightly before following Asuma. Meanwhile, Sasuke just gained a surge of motivation. _'If this dobe can do it, then so can I.'_ When Naruto ran up the tree again, Sasuke closely followed her. Before he slid off the tree, he was able to mark a spot just below hers. _'So, too much chakra cracks the wood, and not enough chakra makes you slide down it. The amount has to be perfect or the jutsu will fail.'_

The remaining Genin just looked at each other and shrugged. They may as well get it over with.

* * *

 _ **Fifteen Minutes Later...**_

Only Sasuke and Naruto remained standing, everyone else having completed the exercise. The first to finish was Sakura, who was saddened by Sasuke's anger that was directed towards her. Ino closely followed her ex-best friend, then a short time later Shikamaru finished (much to his relief) and lastly, Chōji. Kakashi and Asuma knew that it was because of the Genins' chakra reserves. Although Sakura did have naturally good chakra control, her reserves were dangerously low, Ino's as well. Shikamaru was average and Chōji was slightly above average. Sasuke came from a very old and very powerful clan, so he would naturally have plenty of chakra. Naruto came from a clan that was famous for having lots of chakra and long life, not to mention she also has the Kyūbi sealed inside her.

Eventually, Naruto was beginning to feel tired. Her injury and the exercise were finally affecting her. When she saw her comrades sitting near the river that wasn't too far away from the clearing, she debated whether or not it was worth risking her pride to ask for help.

 _'If I do, I'll be able to relax... but Sasuke might laugh at me. If I don't, I could end up tiring myself out and collapsing from exhaustion... but I might be able to figure out this jutsu before that happens... fuck, what should I do?'_

 **"I'm not helping you."**

 _'Why the Hell not?'_

 **"I like seeing you squirm."**

 _'I hate you.'_

 **"Just go ask someone."**

 _'Who?'_

 **"Well, the Nara is probably too lazy to be bothered helping you and the Akimichi will probably agree with the Nara. That leaves you with two choices."**

 _'Exhaustion it is then.'_

 **"Don't be a baby."**

 _'Shut up.'_

 **"Just do it. Nothing will go wrong. Oh wait, look."**

 _'Huh?... THAT BASTARD!'_ Naruto screamed internally when she saw her male teammate approach Sakura. His intentions were clear as day.

 **"Now you don't have an excuse."**

Naruto glared at the back of Sasuke's duckbutt head as she walked past him and Sakura. Thankfully Sakura wasn't paying attention to her; if she was, Naruto would've received a broken nose. Probably. When the Uzumaki was close to Ino, she took a deep breath. _'Stay calm, stay calm, stay calm...'_

The golden blonde cautiously reached out one of her gloved hands towards Ino's shoulder, _praying_ that she didn't turn around before Naruto could tap her. Thankfully, she did not.

"Huh?" the Yamanaka turned around to face whoever had tried to get her attention, but the only person she could see was Naruto, who was at least ten feet away from her. How she could get over there that fast was a mystery. "Um... yes?"

"I... needyourhelp."

"What?"

"Ineedyourhelp."

"You're gonna have to say that a bit slower."

For the second time that day, Naruto took a deeeeeeep breath. "I. Need. Your. Help."

"My help? Sure. Come here," the Yamanaka patted the other end of the rock she was sitting on. "I assume it's about the exercise Asuma-sensei and Kakashi-sensei gave us. It'll be easier to explain it with you sitting next to me."

 **"Aw, she's nice."**

 _'Fuck off.'_

"Fine..." Naruto mumbled. The small girl refused to look at Ino as she shuffled her way across the grass. She got there eventually.

"Are you using too much chakra or too little?" the Yamanaka asked as the Uzumaki stiffly sat down with her hands in her pockets. Naruto made sure to leave a big gap between them.

"Too little."

"When you're trying to climb, are you angry at Sasuke?"

"The real question is, when am I _not_ angry at Sasuke?" Naruto almost face-palmed when Ino giggled.

 _'Why is she laughing? It wasn't even funny.'_

 **"I think she was laughing at your face. You had a very amusing scowl."**

"That's your problem. Chakra requires spirit energy, so if you start feeling angry or annoyed, you're gonna lose your concentration. You have to relax and completely focus on your training, or it won't work."

"I see... so just, don't think about Sasuke?"

"Yup."

"All right, I can do that," Naruto stood up, but before she left to go continue her training, she turned towards Ino. "Um, thanks... okay, bye." Ino watched as Naruto ran back to her tree, Sasuke doing the same once Sakura had finished speaking to him. The two girls made eye-contact with each other and shrugged.

* * *

 _ **One Hour Later...**_

Despite Ino's advice, Naruto was still unable to complete the simple exercise the two Jōnin had given to the Genin. She blamed Sasuke for constantly being a thorn in her side.

 **"Why is it so hard for you to just forget that he's even there?"**

 _'He keeps looking at me! It's annoying.'_

 **"He's only looking at you because he wants to make sure you don't beat him. Both of you keep getting ahead of the other."**

 _'That's also annoying!'_

 **"Look, you're only a few metres away from the top of this tree, so make this last attempt count, okay?"**

 _'Fine,'_ Naruto stopped talking to the Kyūbi in favour of putting all her focus on the tree in front of her. Well, almost all her focus. She glanced at Sasuke out of the corner of her eye, but when she saw him outright glaring at her, she returned the expression. If you looked at the two closely enough, you might even see electricity zap between them.

"I'm not going to lose to you, teme."

"Neither am I, dobe."

With a battle cry, the two ran at full power up the side of their trees, kunai gripped tightly in their hands. Both were at the same level, neither were able to pull ahead of the other. _'Come on, just a little more,'_ thought Sasuke.

 _'Don't look at him, don't look at him, don't look at him!'_ thought Naruto.

* * *

 _ **With the Rest of the Konoha Ninja...**_

"Where are those two? They were meant to be back at the house a while ago," said Sakura. She and Ino were 'leading' the group of six through the forest. "Sasuke?! Naruto?!"

Suddenly, a flaming object landed in front of the Haruno and the Yamanaka. When the group looked up, they saw Naruto standing on a branch, holding her bow in one hand and twirling a black arrow in the other. "You called?"

"Whoa, you completed the training?" asked Ino in awe. The Naruto she used to know would never have been able to do this, even with help.

"Don't act so surprised."

"Well done, Naruto. I'm very proud of you," Kakashi gave her one of his eye-smiles. A cough from the tree behind him diverted Kakashi's attention. The Uchiha was standing on a branch, leaning against the trunk. "Oh? Sasuke too? That's great. You two can come down now."

Sasuke nodded before running down the side of the tree and joining the group. Naruto also nodded, but before she could move, a sharp pain that came from her stomach made her wince. That was enough to make her lose focus. The Uzumaki's bow disappeared as she slipped.

"Naruto!" shouted most members from the group, but when the small girl attached herself to bottom of the branch before she could fall, they all sighed in relief.

"Ha, just kidding," the Uzumaki smirked.

"Naruto, you idiot! You almost gave me a heart attack!" screamed Sakura.

 _ **"Cha! When she gets down here, I'm gonna strangle her!"**_

 **"Baka! That wasn't a joke, you** _ **actually**_ **slipped!"**

 _'They don't need to know that...'_

"Hurry up and get down here before Sakura bursts a vein," Ino said, which resulted in Sakura trying to burn holes into her head with her gaze.

"Okay, okay," however just as Naruto was about to walk down the tree, Sasuke decided that would be a good time to speak.

"Someone should probably go give her a hand, you know how helpless the dobe can be."

"WHAT WAS THAT?!" Naruto shouted, pointing a finger at Sasuke.

"NARUTO!" the group shouted once again as the Uzumaki stopped sticking to the tree.

 **"I hate you so much,"** the Kyūbi said as she used her chakra to create a Naruto shadow clone. The clone then grabbed Naruto in midair and threw her towards the tree's trunk. Without thinking, the Uzumaki used her dōjutsu to summon something that would help her grip onto the tree. Right now, she was panicking too much to be able to divert her chakra.

Black gauntlets with red veins appeared on the Uzumaki's arms. The fingers were pointed, like claws, and the arms had three plates of metal sticking out, each coming to a sharp point **(Picture the Daedric gauntlets from Skyrim)**.

The claws of the gauntlets were able to pierce the wood, slowing Naruto's descent. In a comical way, she slid down the tree slowly, leaving a trail of claw marks on her way down. When she reached the bottom, she just sat on the ground for a while so she could catch her breath.

"Uh, Naruto?" asked Kakashi. He and the other Konoha ninja were in disbelief at what had just transpired.

"Well I got down, didn't I?"

 **A/N: I'm back! Sorry for the long wait, but I've had to deal with a TON of personal problems. After this, I should be back to regular chapter updates.**

 **As you can see, I've made Naruto a bit 'ehh' about having to interact with Sakura and Ino, and Sakura is still a Sasuke fangirl. In this rewrite, I'm going to slow down Naru/Saku/Ino, so Sakura and Ino are going to take a bit longer to figure out their feelings.**

 **I know the Christmas chapter hasn't been posted yet (whoops) but I haven't been able to finish it yet. I should finish it soon though. Who doesn't love a Christmas chapter in Summer?**

 **Any and all reviews are appreciated!**

 **Well, not** _ **any**_ **. Unnecessary flames are just stupid.**


	7. Trip to Wave, Part Four

_Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto or any of its characters._

"Talking."  
 _'Thinking.'  
_ **"** **Kyūbi/Jutsu."  
** _ **"Inner Sakura."**_

 **Chapter 7: Trip to Wave, Part Four**

 _ **Breakfast, the Next Day...**_

"Hahaha, this is fantastic! It's been so long since we've had so many guests at our table!" exclaimed Tazuna as he sipped his alcoholic beverage at the head of the dining table. To his right was Kakashi. Next to the Hatake was Naruto (who was feeling slightly better), then Shikamaru, Chōji, Ino, Asuma, Sakura, Sasuke and then Inari, who finished at Tazuna's left. Tsunami was cleaning up in the kitchen.

Currently, the Uchiha and the Uzumaki were engaged in a vigorous eating battle. The two Genin wolfed down every scrap of food in front of them, barely chewing what was already in their mouths before shoving more in.

Sakura, eventually becoming disgusted at the sight of her long-time crush acting like an animal, decided to go over and inspect the picture on the wall. Her attention had been drawn to the torn-out corner of the photograph, however she didn't have the time to ask about it until now.

"Um, excuse me?" asked Sakura. "The corner of this picture is missing. Is there a reason for that? I noticed Inari glancing at it during dinner."

Suddenly, the activity in the room halted. Inari stopped poking his food with his spoon, Tazuna put his drink down, and Tsunami stopped cleaning. Even Naruto and Sasuke paused their battle in favour of hearing the story behind the picture.

"That's my husband," said Tsunami, looking down sorrowfully.

"They used to call him a hero in this land..." Tazuna continued.

"Inari? Where are you going?" Tsunami asked as her son stood up from his chair and left the room, slamming the door behind him. The woman quickly followed, glaring at her father as she walked past him.

 **"And the plot thickens."**

 _'Shh, I want to hear this._ '

"Inari seems so... what happened to him?" Ino asked.

"Is there a story behind this?" Kakashi closed his book and placed it in his pouch.

"He wasn't Inari's real father, he came into our lives later, and he brought so much happiness. He and Inari were very close. Until..." the old man took a deep, shaky breath before continuing, "The word 'courage' was taken from this land."

"What happened?"

"First, you need to hear about the man that taught us the word in the first place. The hero in this land. He came here about three years ago..."

* * *

As Tazuna finished telling the story about Kaiza and Gatō, Naruto began to feel the pain in her stomach grow from uncomfortable to agonising REAL fast.

 _'Oh fuck, why now?'_

"I'm going to go rest for a while," said Naruto as she slowly got up.

"Are you okay?" the Nara asked. He had noticed Naruto shifting a bit as Tazuna was wrapping up his story, but he refused to comment in case the blonde shouted at him.

"I'm fine. It's just a stomach ache," she said. As the Uzumaki started to walk towards the staircase, her sensei stood up.

"Are you sure? That training earlier could have-"

"I said I'm _fine_ ," Naruto whipped her head around to glare at Kakashi, however the outburst didn't faze the Jōnin at all. In fact, he hardly even noticed it. Instead, his attention was focused on the brief flash of red coming from Naruto's visible eye. He frowned underneath his mask, narrowing his eyes as he watched Naruto leave the room.

 _'Some of the beast's chakra is leaking, just like that time during the fight with Zabuza, albeit much less this time. I doubt anyone except Asuma and I noticed it,'_ a quick glance at the other shinobi confirmed his thought. _'Something must be wrong with the seal if mere spikes of anger are triggering it. I must let the Hokage know as soon as we return to the village.'_

* * *

"I hate being like this!" Naruto shouted as she kicked the pillow that was laying on her futon, regretting the action immediately when her wound acted up. The small girl leaned against the wall, then slowly slid down until she was sitting, holding a hand to her stomach. "Everyone is watching me like a hawk in case I suddenly collapse, especially Kakashi-sensei. They're treating me like I'm some fragile little girl."

 **"Right now you are a fragile little girl."**

 _'Like hell I am. Why is this taking so long to heal?'_

 **"Don't blame me! This poison counters any healing attempts... well, it's supposed to. Because I'm the strongest Tailed Beast, I can get rid of it without too much difficulty, the only problem is that it takes some time. I'm sure some expert medic ninjas could also get rid of the poison."**

 _'But we don't have a lot of time, Zabuza is going to appear any time now, and I have to be ready!'_

 **"Calm down! I'm sure Kakashi and Asuma can handle Zabuza easily between the two of them, especially if they don't have to worry about protecting you or any of the other Genin."**

 _'What about the fake Hunter ninja?'_

 **"Although I hate to say it, Sasuke could probably take him on."**

 _'Yeah, I guess...'_ Naruto sighed and closed her eyes. She wouldn't admit it out loud, but she agreed with the Kyūbi. Sasuke was strong, probably stronger than Naruto, even with her Kyūbi enhanced abilities and new Dōjutsu. _'He's stronger... for now. Hey,_ _Kyūbi?'_

 **"Hm?"**

 _'You said you had a great arsenal of jutsu, even greater than the Sandaime's, right?'_

 **"Right."**

 _'Can you teach me some?'_

 **"You want me to teach you? Ha! You're not ready."**

 _'Oh come on! I'm not asking you to teach me how to use a_ _ **Bijūdama**_ _, all I want is a couple of new jutsu that can give me an advantage in the upcoming fight. Oh! You could teach me how to use_ _ **Kage Bunshin**_ _without hand-signs.'_

 **"Hm..."**

 _'Kakashi-sensei hasn't taught me anything yet, and the only real jutsu I know are from the academy while Sasuke knows some cool fire jutsu that he got from his clan. It's not fair.'_

 **"Not fair? You have a Dōjutsu, but what about Sakura? She came from a family with no ninja history and no clan jutsu. Now** _ **that's**_ **not fair."**

 _'True, but she's smart. Like,_ really _smart. I'm sure she can find a way to use her chakra for something offensive.'_

 **"True, but... oh whatever, I can't be bothered arguing about this. Just fall asleep and come to my cage like you normally do. When you get back to the village, we should probably find a way to do this without you having to sleep."**

* * *

 _ **Later that Night...**_

Sakura sighed as she turned over in her futon for the fourth time. She envied her love-rival and her ability to sleep peacefully. The Haruno considered giving Ino a rude awakening, but decided against it because the other girl would probably wake everyone else up with her furious screaming, and Sakura didn't want Naruto's much needed rest to be disturbed.

The pinkette clutched her fist to her chest when she felt a stabbing pain in her heart. _'Naruto... why does the thought of her make me feel sad? No, it's not the thought of her exactly, it's the thought of her being hurt,'_ Sakura sat up and looked at the door to the room that she and Ino shared, wondering whether or not she should go and check up on her teammate. After a few moments, she shook her head. _'No, I shouldn't bother her. I'm probably the last person she wants to see right now anyway. Besides, Naruto's strong enough so I know she'll be all right. In fact, she's way stronger than me, and so is Sasuke... damn it, why do I have to be the weak link in the team? Those two did the most work during the Bell Test and the fight with Zabuza, all I did was get caught in a genjutsu and hide with Ino and Tazuna.'_

Sakura held a lock of her hair in front of her face. _'I spend way too much time looking good instead of training, even my hands are still as soft as a baby's instead of rough like a real ninja's.'_

The kunoichi flopped back down onto her futon and groaned, however she froze when she heard Ino move. The Yamanaka sighed and flipped over onto her stomach, and when Sakura realised that the blonde was still asleep, she released a breath that she never even knew she was holding. _'That was close.'_

The Haruno looked through the window to her right and thought about her experience as a ninja. So far, she hadn't done much, but that was to be expected seeing as she just _officially_ became one. In the academy, she either spent her time daydreaming about Sasuke, fighting over him, or making herself look good for him. She was a quick-study, so Sakura rarely had to put any effort into the academic part of the academy, which at the time she was thankful for, but now? Now she wished she would have used that extra time for something truly worthwhile.

With a new kind of determination, Sakura stood up and changed into her ninja clothes as quietly as she could and exited through the window, using her new skill to run down the side of the building and into the forest. When she found the same clearing the teams used for the tree climbing exercise she sighed. She had no idea how to do this.

 _'I've never seriously trained before, and everything I did at the academy I've already mastered. Ugh, Ino was right._ I _would be the one to slow everyone else down, not her.'_

 _ **"Cha! That pig! If it wasn't for her**_ **Shintenshin no Jutsu** _ **she would be in the same boat as me! It's not fair!"**_

Sakura clenched her fist and with a battle-cry, she turned and punched the nearest tree. She immediately regretted the action when she pulled her hand away and saw her now bruised and slightly bloody knuckles. "Damn it!" She clutched her damaged her to her chest and hissed in pain. Almost childishly, the pinkette looked up and glared at the tree, but instead her brows furrowed in confusion when she saw that the tree was the bigger victim. Where her fist had connected, there was now a decently sized cracked dent, similar to what had happened when Naruto had first tried the tree climbing exercise.

No longer focused on her injury, Sakura stepped closer to the tree in order to inspect the damage she had unknowingly caused. _'Did I really do that?'_ she thought to herself. At first, she blamed it on a spike of anger and adrenaline, however the knowledgeable part of her quickly threw that explanation in the trash. _'Of course it wasn't that. My body isn't capable of doing something like that on its own, no matter how emotional I am.'_

Sakura used her healthy hand to lightly trace some of the cracks in the wood. _'Hm... chakra is the only sensible conclusion. Huh, that could be pretty useful in combat. Now, to figure out a way to replicate what I just did_ without _hurting myself again.'_

The Haruno quickly pulled out a roll of bandages from her pouch, and after she carefully wrapped a layer of it around her injured hand, she used the rest to create a thick barrier around her other one. Sakura stood in front of a different tree, closed her eyes and took a deep breath. _'Control your breathing, centre yourself, channel your chakra, and...'_

" **CHA!** " the Haruno pulled back her protected fist, and instantly bright blue, wild chakra was coating it. The girl threw it forward, and when her fist connected, the tree cracked violently and almost caved in on itself. There was a dull throbbing in her fist, but other than that Sakura was completely fine. The kunoichi looked up and smirked when she saw the top half of the tree bending forwards slightly. It wasn't close to falling, but it was a good start.

 _'Sasuke-kun, Naruto... I'm one step closer.'_

* * *

 _ **Morning, in the Forest...**_

Haku hummed quietly to himself as he picked another herb from the dirt. He had spent the last fifteen minutes searching for common plants to help Zabuza recover. Although the elder ninja's wounds were almost one hundred percent healed, the pain and discomfort was still there, so Haku wanted to at least ease as much of it as he could.

A light pressure on his shoulder made him turn his head, and when he saw the feathery creature perched there, the boy smiled. He lifted his hand into order to gently pet the bird, but something a short distance away caught his eye, as well as the bird's it seemed as the fragile animal took flight. It landed on a sheet of metal that was attached to piece of cloth, which was currently being used as a hair band for a girl with pink hair.

Haku, curious about the girl, walked up to her until he was standing next to her, and when the bird flew away, satisfied by what he saw, Haku narrowed his eyes. He recognised the symbol on the girl's headband. It was the same symbol that was engraved on the headbands of the ninja that Zabuza was fighting before Haku saved him.

Noticing that the girl was asleep, the boy silently crouched down until he was leaning over Sakura, slowly reaching down until his hand was a hair's breadth away from closing around her neck, however he hesitated when he saw the ripped bandages that were doing a poor job at covering the pinkette's bloody knuckles. Haku frowned, and looked up. He never noticed it before, but half of the trees in the clearing had multiple large cracks and dents. _'Did one girl do all this?'_

The fake hunter-ninja looked down again and gazed at Sakura's face, like he was analysing a puzzle in order to find the solution. _'I wonder why she worked herself into exhaustion like this...'_

"You'll catch a cold if you continue to sleep out here. Wake up," Haku placed his hand on the Haruno's shoulder and shook her until her eyes began to open.

"Huh?" Sakura asked no one in particular. She sat up, rubbed the sleep from her eyes and turned her attention towards the person next to her. "Who are you?" realising what she had just said, rather rudely, Sakura quickly corrected herself. "Oh sorry. I didn't mean to sound like that."

"That's quite all right. Might I ask why a ninja is out here all alone? Destroying nature as well, I might add."

"Wait, how did you know I was a ninja?" Haku smiled lightly at the question and there gestured to Sakura's head. "A-ah, of course," Sakura reached up to straighten her ninja headband. "I was training."

"You train by destroying nature?"

"Well no, not usually. I just discovered something last night and I wanted to develop it more as soon as possible."

"I see," Haku reached into his basket and pulled out some bandages, a few leaves and a wooden mortar and pestle. "You shouldn't push yourself so hard."

"What are you doing?"

"I'm crushing some herbs that help the healing process. I noticed the state your hands were in when I walked over here."

"Oh. Well, thank you," the Haruno smiled, blushing when Haku smiled back. Sakura wasn't used to such kindness from strangers, so this situation, although pleasant was a little bit embarrassing for her. Suddenly, a thought entered her head. "Wait, do you have any more of those? Perhaps stronger ones?"

"I think I do. Why?"

"It's my teammate. She was poisoned on the way to Wave and although she's getting better, she's in a lot of pain. Could you help her? Please?"

Haku stopped crushing the herbs and thought for a moment. This girl and her teammate were ninjas sent here to aid Tazuna, meaning they were enemies of Zabuza. Haku _should_ have snapped her neck when he had the chance. But of course, he didn't. Haku wasn't like Zabuza.

"Your teammate... is she precious to you?"

"What?" Sakura asked. Haku was now looking at her, making direct eye-contact, like he was trying to see whether she would lie to him or not.

"I asked you if she is precious to you."

Sakura didn't know what to say. At first, she was surprised by the sudden seriousness in the boy's tone, but now she felt something else. Something she couldn't describe.

"Yes. She is very precious to me," the Haruno didn't exactly know where these words were coming from, but somehow, they felt right.

"Good. I will help you."

"Really? Thank you!"

"On one condition."

"Anything."

"Hang onto her."

"Huh?" Sakura asked for the second time that day. "What do you mean?"

"If she is truly precious to you, hang onto her and never let go. Precious people can't be replaced, and they can never leave your heart. So hang onto them for as long as you can. Fight for them. Defend them. Protect them with your life. Promise me you'll do that."

Sakura took a deep breath, and then exhaled. "I promise," and she meant it.

* * *

Once Sakura had explained who Haku was, the boy was allowed to enter the 'Medical Room' and help Naruto. Under Team 7's supervision, of course. Kakashi especially. He refused to let a stranger near Naruto unless he was right next to them, however when he recognised the herbs Haku was using, he relaxed. _Slightly_.

"We never caught your name," Kakashi said casually. He was leaning against the wall directly behind Naruto, who was gazing up at the ceiling and occasionally wincing when the herb paste hit a particularly sensitive spot. Sakura sat on a chair nearby and Sasuke stood near the door.

"That's because I never gave it," he said, not turning around.

"Why not?" Sasuke glared at the boy, almost accusing him of being the enemy.

This time, Haku turned around and smiled. "No one asked."

Sasuke turned away, his cheeks turning a light pink from embarrassment.

"If you don't mind, could please tell us? It would be nice to know the name of the person helping us," Sakura asked politely, fidgeting in her seat.

"Haku."

"Haku?"

"That's right."

"Okay. Thank you, Haku."

* * *

 **A/N: I'M A MESS! It's been 2 months since I updated, so I'm sorry!**

 **I managed to reply to some people and I did say to some of you that I should be back to regular updates soon, which is true. In a way. By 'regular updates' I mean I should post one chapter every 2 weeks, maybe a bit more depending on my current situation. More drama and school stuff have popped up, leaving me a bit stressed but I'm recovering and things should be back to normal soon.**

 **Anyway, some notes on the chapter:**

 **As you can see I've started Sakura's chakra enhanced strength waaaaaay earlier than in canon. That's because I want her to get stronger BEFORE the** **Chū** **nin exams and not after like I had planned in the original MtHtS. Obviously since she's just starting she hasn't learned how to stop injuring her hand when she punches stuff, but she'll get something for that after Wave. She's also going to have a moment in the Team 7/10 vs. Zabuza and Haku fight.**

 **Like in the original, I had Haku help Naruto (this time without him adding stuff that weakened her a bit) because he's a softie inside :) I also made Haku give Sakura a small 'precious person' speech, just to speed the NaruSakuIno along a bit ;)**

 **Ino's time will come, I assure you. Probably after the** **Chū** **nin exams and for those of you that kept up with the original, you'll know where I was about to take it.**

 **Please keep voting on my poll! The results will probably affect the story (especially if it's a Naruto pairing), so if you want some of those pairings in here, vote!**


	8. Trip to Wave, Part Five

_Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto or any of its characters._

"Talking."  
 _'Thinking.'  
_ _'Flashback.'  
_ **"** **Kyūbi/Jutsu."**

 **Chapter 8: Trip to Wave, Part Five**

Naruto groaned as she was awoken from her peaceful slumber by objects breaking and someone screaming. The ninja groggily sat up and rubbed the sleep from her eye, removing her mask so she could access the other eye, before standing up and stretching. Naruto lifted up her black t-shirt and was pleasantly surprised to see nothing but a thin line where her wound was.

 **"After that boy finished applying the medicine, it didn't take long for me to be able to heal you because the cut itself wasn't very big."**

 _'Nice. Thanks,'_ Naruto released the t-shirt so it could fall back into place. She stood there for a few seconds before realising that someone had _screamed_. _'Tsunami? Inari?'_ she asked herself. Once she finished slipping her shoes onto her feet, she opened the door to her room and quickly, but quietly, made her way to the ground floor of the house.

 **"You think the rest of Team 7 and Team 10 left with Tazuna without you?"**

 _'They better not have or I'll be pissed.'_

When Naruto reached the foyer, she noticed the door has been torn apart, and on further inspection, she came to the conclusion that the ones responsible were wielding katanas.

 **"This looks like a kidnapping."**

 _'Think it was some of_ _Gatō's thugs?'_

 **"Most likely."**

The Jinchūriki frowned before jumping over the remains of the house's front door and running down the pier just outside, the wood creaking ever so slightly with every step she took. Just as she was about to turn a corner, she stopped. The ninja pressed her back against the side of the house and peaked her head around the corner, sighing at what she saw. _'That baka is going to get himself killed,'_ she thought while watching Inari run at the two thugs, an unconscious Tsunami laying on the ground between them.

* * *

"Get away from my mother!" the young boy yelled as he rapidly approached his certain death. Waraji, the thug with an eye patch, nudged his partner, Zōri, and laughed.

"Look at this kid! I can't wait to make him bleed," Waraji grinned and unsheathed his katana along with Zōri, who was wearing a beanie hat. As soon as Inari was directly in front of them, the two lifted their swords into the air and brought them down with all their strength, clearly aiming to cleave him into pieces, however they didn't get the result they were hoping for. Instead of blood staining the pier, all that was left was a wooden log that had been cut into three parts.

The two men turned around and glared at Inari's saviour. The boy himself was clinging to the saviour's shoulders as they were setting Tsunami down gently after removing the tight rope the thugs had restrained her with. Inari let go of the saviour in favour of kneeling next to his mother and hugging her hand to his chest, afraid of potentially losing her again.

"Inari, sorry for being late, but my asshole teammates decided it would be a good idea to let me continue sleeping," Naruto said as stood up from her crouching position. Inari looked up the girl with tears in his eyes.

"N-Naruto?"

"You know, it was pretty stupid of you to run into danger like that," Inari sniffled and looked down in shame, "but because of you, those two idiots were distracted long enough for me to save your mother, so... good job."

Before Inari could comment, Naruto turned around to look at the thugs. Now that the Kyūbi had finished healing her, she was at her maximum strength once again, and it felt _great_.

"Oh look, it's one of the pathetic ninja that the drunken fool of a bridge builder hired. Let's kill her!" Zōri said as he and Waraji ran towards Naruto. The girl smirked before pulling out two shuriken and throwing them at the men. Both Zōri and Waraji were easily able to deflect small weapons, smirking when they didn't even have to slow down, however that was their first mistake.

The two 'shuriken' were actually two of Naruto's **Kage Bunshin** , and when the two thugs deflected the weapons, they transformed back into shadow clones. The **Kage Bunshin** were then able to use the Uzumaki dōjutsu to summon the gauntlets Naruto had used the previous day, however they could only summon one gauntlet each. One of the clones used the right gauntlet to land a heavy, and very painful, punch to the back of Zōri's head, while the other clone did the same with the left gauntlet to Waraji. Both men then tumbled to the ground, swords sliding out of their grip and falling off of the pier and into the watery depths.

Naruto quickly finished them off with a quick kick to their face, effectively knocking them out for quite some time. She then turned back to Inari while her clones began to tie up Gatō's thugs. Inari slowly stood up, legs still shaking from fear, and gave Naruto a small smile and chuckle, "That was pretty cool."

"Um... thanks I guess. You were... okay back there," Naruto was beginning to think that Inari wasn't _actually_ that bad. He's experienced a lot of bad stuff in his young life, and he has a lot to improve on, but he's shown that he can learn from his mistakes and grow as a-

"You're like a real ninja!" aaaaand there is it.

"I _am_ a real ninja you little-"

A groan of pain drew Naruto and Inari's attention away from each other and towards the woman laying on the ground. "Kaa-chan!" **[1]** Inari rushed to his mother's side as she sat up, holding a hand to her forehead. Naruto saw this as a good time to leave.

"Naruto!" before said Jinchūriki could take another step, Tsunami called out to her. When Naruto turned back around to make eye contact with the mother, she also received a smile, "Thank you for saving my family."

The kunoichi swallowed, her throat suddenly feeling dry. The way Tsunami said those words... it brought a warmth to Naruto's chest, and not an uncomfortable kind. Even though Naruto was just doing her job, this woman was thanking her, and she _meant_ it.

Naruto, not being used to gratefulness from a stranger, merely nodded and continued to make her way to the bridge.

* * *

 _ **Meanwhile, at the Bridge...**_

"Sasuke, Sakura, get behind me!" Kakashi called out, Asuma also giving the same command to his students. The chakra mist began to surround the Konoha ninja, so the Genin took up a defensive circle around Tazuna, the only living builder on the bridge. The rest had been mercilessly cut down before Team 7 and Team 10 could arrive.

"Sorry I kept you two waiting..." an ominous voice came from the mist. "I see you still have those brats with you. Kakashi, your Uchiha is even trembling. How pathetic," suddenly, four of Zabuza's clones appeared around the circle of Genin, crouching low with their over-sized swords held against their shoulder.

"I'm trembling with _excitement_ ," Sasuke smirked, the last word leaving his mouth as he stared straight into the eyes of one of the clones. After receiving permission from his sensei, Sasuke attacked the clones. None of them were fast enough to block the precise strikes from the boy's kunai.

The real Zabuza stepped out from the mist, along with the fake hunter ninja, and chuckled. "Looks like you've improved since the last time we met," he looked at his partner. "It seems like you've got a rival."

"Indeed," the masked boy replied. _'Even though clones are only one tenth of the original's strength, to cut them down so easily... I guess I won't need to pull my punches.'_

"Zabuza, just give it up! There's two of us and only one of you, and our students are strong enough to take out your little helper!" Asuma exclaimed. He doubted the missing-ninja would actually surrender, but it was worth a shot. What he didn't expect was for the Momochi to start laughing.

"You think we were stupid enough to come alone?" as he finished his sentence, about two dozen men, all carrying various kinds of weapons, came from behind Zabuza. They all shared one thing in common: their menacing grins.

One man in particular continued walking until he stood almost shoulder-to-shoulder with Zabuza. "Kakashi, Asuma... meet Aoi Rokushō."

Aoi was a man of average height with dark green-ish hair and purple eyes. He wore an Amegakure headband and a lilac jumpsuit that had a thick navy stripe going straight down the middle. On his back was an umbrella, however everyone on the bridge knew that its purpose wasn't for blocking rain.

Asuma was the first to recognise him. "You... you betrayed the Leaf and fled to Amegakure. Why are you here?"

"Let's just say, there's something in it for me," the man replied.

"He betrayed Konoha? How?" asked Sakura.

"He stole a _very_ powerful weapon from our armoury. Or really, he tricked someone into stealing it for him," replied Kakashi, now finally realising who they were now dealing with.

"Oh? You mean _this_ weapon?" Aoi reached behind him, presumably into a pouch that was attached to his lower back, and pulled out a sword hilt. Just as Sakura was going to ask how a hilt was so dangerous, bright yellow light zapped into existence just above the guard of the hilt. "Say hello to the Raijin no Ken, **[2]** a sword made of electricity that was owned by Senju Tobirama himself!"

 _'This just got really bad...'_ thought Kakashi. _'I was hoping Asuma and I would be able to team up against Zabuza while Sasuke went against the fake hunter ninja, but it doesn't look like that will be possible anymore. Unfortunately, we're going to have to split up.'_

Zabuza and Aoi, almost sensing what the Konoha Jōnin was thinking, ran in opposite directions. The two ninja then ran up two support pillars until the mist hid them from view. Knowing that they wanted them to follow, Asuma and Kakashi chased after them. Kakashi going after Zabuza, and Asuma going after Aoi.

Sasuke decided to take the fight to the fake hunter ninja, charging at him while the large group of thugs ran straight past the approaching Uchiha, obviously choosing the group of remaining Genin as their targets.

Once everyone had an opponent to face, the fights began.

* * *

Sasuke was currently locked in a standoff with the masked ninja, his senbon against Sasuke's kunai.

"We want the bridge builder, not you. If you back down, I won't have to kill you," said the masked ninja, his voice monotone. Sasuke almost thought it was creepy.

"Save it. I'm not just gonna let you win without a fight."

"You're making a mistake. You'll never be able to match my speed. Not to mention I have two key advantages. Firstly, we're surrounded by water. Secondly, I'm occupying one of your hands," immediately after he finished talking, the boy started to make hand-signs... with only _one hand_.

 _'What?! How is that even possible?!'_ thought Sasuke, his eyes widening.

" **Sensatsu Suishō** ," **[3]** the water puddles surrounding the two boys began to rise from the bridge, taking the form of senbon in the process. One second later, they all flew at Sasuke. The fake hunter ninja jumped away from the attack, not wanting to get caught by stray water senbon. What he wasn't expecting was for Sasuke to channel chakra into his legs and jump into the air and out of the jutsu's range. The fake hunter ninja had to jump back multiple times to avoid shuriken, and when he landed back on the bridge after dodging the third shuriken, he felt a presence behind him.

"Not as fast as you thought, huh?" the ninja spun around when he heard Sasuke's comment, just in time to block one of the Uchiha's kunai, however he had to duck to avoid another kunai that Sasuke threw with his other hand. Sasuke used this opportunity to land a kick to his opponent's face.

The fake hunter ninja groaned when he finished sliding down the bridge on his back. He was thankful that Zabuza was too busy fighting Kakashi to see him beaten at his own game. The ninja sighed as he got up, brushing dirt off of his shirt. "I see... I'm sorry, but I must end this now. **Makyō Hyōshō**." **[4]**

The remaining water leftover from the fake hunter ninja's water senbon attack began to rise up once again, but instead of striking Sasuke, the water took the form of a large rectangular block of ice. It did this multiple times until the Uchiha was surrounded by the ice blocks. They came together to form a dome-like structure with only small gaps between them, perhaps only big enough to allow someone through if they turned and slipped through sideways.

Sasuke gasped as the fake hunter ninja walked into one of the ice blocks, and instead of meeting solid resistance, the enemy ninja went _into_ it. Suddenly, all the other ice blocks held the same image. It was like he had created clones of himself and they too walked into the blocks.

"Now, we'll begin, and I'll show you what speed _really_ means," said the masked boy as he held three senbon needles in his hand.

* * *

Kakashi's muscles strained against the pressure from Zabuza's sword on his kunai, however he didn't let the missing-ninja gain the advantage. The Hatake decided to take a risk, allowing Zabuza to push against him, but before the man's sword could cut into his body, Kakashi did a forward-roll under the Momochi's legs. He tried to take a swipe at Zabuza's ankle, aiming to cripple his opponent, but Zabuza was faster. Kakashi had to block Zabuza's incoming sword strike with his kunai again, but the force of it sent him tumbling to the side. When Kakashi looked up, he saw Zabuza's sword heading straight for him. Rolling to his left and jumping up and onto his feet, he just barely avoided his death.

Zabuza growled, stabbing the sword into the ground so his hands were free to perform hand-signs, and when Kakashi realised what he was going to do, he lifted up his headband so he could use his Sharingan to copy him. " **Suiton: Suiryūdan no Jutsu**!" **[5]**

The two water dragons collided, raining water down onto both of the ninja and creating a brief barrier between them. The river water they used for the jutsu was dirty enough to obscure their vision, giving Kakashi enough time to disappear into the mist. Fortunately for them, the truss was big enough to fight on, and also evidently big enough for Kakashi to hide. Zabuza grunted before closing his eyes. If he couldn't see the Hatake, then maybe he could hear him.

* * *

"Hey, you're pretty good," commented Aoi as he and Asuma separated. For the past few minutes, he and the Sarutobi had been deflecting each other's attacks. Even though Aoi's _Raijin no Ken_ was an extremely powerful sword, most of its abilities were weakened, sometimes even completely blocked, by Asuma's wind chakra coated trench knives. The worst of Asuma's injuries were minor burns from the electrical shocks generated by the sword, whereas Aoi had a cut on his forehead that was still bleeding and a slight limp in his left leg where Asuma had managed to stab him.

"If you surrender now, I promise not to hurt you anymore," replied Asuma, trying a second time to get Aoi to turn himself in.

"And then what? I'll get to live a little longer in Konoha's prison before the Hokage sends someone to execute me? I'll pass. I'd rather kill you here!" the green haired man gripped the handle of the umbrella on his back, pulling it in front of him and twirling it before throwing it into the air.

Asuma smirked before holdings his hands out in front of him, palms facing Aoi. " **Fūton: Kiryū Ranbu**!" **[6]** before the senbon in the umbrella could even be released, a strong gust of wind blew the umbrella off of the bridge, almost taking Aoi with it. The Amegakure ninja had to stab his sword into the bridge and hold onto its hilt so he could stay stationary. Asuma on the other hand, being the one to release the jutsu, was completely unaffected.

 _'Shit, I needed that,'_ thought Aoi as he watched his umbrella drift lazily down the river below. He looked up to glare at Asuma, trying to come up with a plan before the Sarutobi decided to take advantage of his inability to do anything and kill him. _'Fuck it.'_

Aoi tore his sword from the ground as Asuma charged at him and swung from right to left, leaving an arc of lightning behind. The Sarutobi then fell to the ground and slid towards Aoi, the attack completely missing him. Aoi had to flip backwards to avoid Asuma, however the latter didn't give him any time to catch his breath. As soon as he was back on his feet, he began swiping at Aoi with his knives. Almost like a boxer, Asuma's strikes were fast and strong, and he always had one arm up in a defensive position in case Aoi managed to get close to him.

"Damn you, Sarutobi!" Asuma's eyes widened in shock when Aoi pulled his next move. The green-haired man charged at him like a raging bull, sword raised over his head. Asuma did his best to meet his strike, but the electricity in the sword was tickling his hands from how close it was.

Aoi was pushing down on Asuma's trench knives like his life depended on it, which it kind of did. "I'm not going to die here!" in one last chance of survival, Aoi pushed more of his chakra into the lightning blade, increasing its power so much so that it took all of Asuma's strength to keep the wind chakra on his blades from dissipating. It was his only barrier that was keeping the lightning from shocking and paralysing him, or worse, killing him.

* * *

"Sasuke-kun!" yelled Sakura as she turned to look at the ice dome. The fake hunter ninja was throwing senbon after senbon at Sasuke, and he was doing it fast enough for it to seem like Sasuke was being showered with them. The Uchiha was crouched on the ground, arms covering his head and gritting his teeth to keep himself from making a painful sound.

"Sakura, watch out!" the Haruno turned just in time to see one of the thugs getting ready to attack her, but before she could defend herself, the man became paralysed. Sakura looked down to see Shikamaru's shadow attached to her attacker's, and a few moments later a giant came from nowhere and smacked the thug away from her. "That was close," said Chōji as his hand returned to its regular shape.

"Sakura, get your head back into the fight," said Ino as she crouched low to dodge an attack from another thug, knocking him unconscious with a kick to his head as soon as she stood back up.

"Right. Sorry Shikamaru, Chōji."

"Don't let your love for a troublesome guy get in the way of fighting," said Shikamaru with a bored expression on his face. These thugs couldn't even get close to him or Chōji, their teamwork was just too good. "Ino, on your six!"

Ino turned around instantly, just in time to deflect a blow from a dagger with her kunai. Shouting a quick thanks to her teammate, Ino was able to defeat her opponent. Unfortunately, the blonde was limited to her taijutsu and a few ninja tools as her clan jutsu wasn't exactly designed for use in battle, and the only time it would even have a chance at working in a fight was if there were very few enemies and she had teammates to back her up. She can check one of those off the list, however currently there were just too many armed men around her.

 _'If only I had finished learning the_ _ **Shinranshin no Jutsu**_ **[7]** _, then this fight would've been over already.'_

"Ah!" screamed Sasuke and he collapsed to the ground, multiple senbon sticking out of his legs.

"I'm surprised you lasted this long, so I must say that you are quite impressive. Perhaps you would've been an excellent ninja one day, but unfortunately your sensei has taken that away from you by refusing to let us have the bridge builder. I'm sorry," the fake hunter ninja said before starting another wave of attacks. The kunai in Sasuke's hand was knocked away from him, landing somewhere outside of the ice dome.

Sakura looked down at her feet when she heard a 'clang'. The kunai that belonged to Sasuke had landed right next to Sakura, and knowing that her crush needed it, she picked it up. The Haruno punch one of the thugs in the stomach, making him bend over in order to clutch his bruised body part and allowing Sakura to jump on top of his back and use that height to jump onto another thug's shoulders. Following the _two birds, one stone_ phrase, she channelled chakra into her legs and jumped up once again so she was high enough to have a good angle for throwing the kunai back to Sasuke. The second thug, shoulder and collar bones most likely broken, fell forward and on top of the first thug, his sudden weight knocking both to the ground.

"Sasuke-kun!" she shouted as she threw the weapon back to him. The Uchiha held out his hand in order to catch it, but just as the kunai reached the dome, the fake hunter ninja grabbed it first. _'Damn it!'_ thought Sakura as Sasuke's opponent exited the ice mirror completely. The boy looked at her before throwing the kunai straight back at her. Sakura, realising that by the time she hit the ground again there would be no time to dodge it, shut her eyes and waited for the impact, but it never hit her. Instead, she heard a grunt behind her and the sound of a body hitting the ground.

The Haruno looked over her shoulder to see one of the thugs laying on the bridge with the kunai through his heart. When she turned back to look at the fake hunter ninja, all she saw was a small black object hit his mask, clearly with enough force to knock him to the ground.

 _'What the hell? Where did that come from?'_ she asked herself. Sakura looked around the top of the bridge, however the mist was too thick for her to see through. Just then, three more of the same object came from somewhere in the mist, however they curved in the air so it was impossible to tell where their source was. The fake hunter ninja had to jump back a few paces to dodge them, but he did without any of them grazing him. When he looked down to see what they were exactly, he recognised them immediately.

 _'Black arrows... so she recovered in time to join the fight. That's... unfortunate.'_

Sakura too was able to recognise the weapons. _'Naruto? She's here?'_ the girl couldn't explain why, but that thought filled her with joy, despite the Konoha ninja's current situation.

* * *

 _'I guess the same trick doesn't work twice, huh?'_ Naruto asked the Kyūbi, frowning when her arrows missed. In order to see through the chakra mist, she was using her Kyūbi enhanced. It didn't give her perfect vision through it, however it allowed her to at least see the vague outline of the enemy's body.

 **"Evidently not. Your best chance now would be to run in there and give him all you got. Remember that jutsu I taught you?"**

 _'Of course.'_

Naruto deactivated her dōjutsu before running down the bridge pillar she was standing on and when her feet made contact with the bridge's deck, she made a beeline for the ice dome. The fake hunter ninja was the only thing in her path.

A target running towards him at that speed wouldn't be able to turn in time to dodge his attack, so the boy threw a handful of senbon towards Naruto. What he didn't expect was for two clones to appear in front of her, without Naruto having to use hand-signs, and kneel on the ground. When she was close enough, their linked hands caught her foot and launched her into the air, her previous momentum still sending her forward until she was directly above the dome.

" **Katon: Gōryūka no Jutsu**!" a large fireball shaped like a dragon's head was released from Naruto's mouth. When Sasuke looked up to see the jutsu, he immediately rolled to the side so he was directly under one of the ice mirrors, therefore the flames missed him. Barely.

"Baka! Give me some warning when you're about to use a jutsu like that!" he yelled when the jutsu finally stopped. Naruto continued her descent, aiming to land just outside the dome however before her feet could touch the ground she felt a hand grab the back of her shirt. Suddenly, she was being pulled backwards and into the ice dome. Luckily, she fell against something relatively soft. Unluckily for Sasuke, that was him.

"Ugh, you baka! Why would you let yourself get caught like that?" Sasuke snapped as he pushed his teammate away. Naruto stood up and glared at him.

"I didn't 'let' myself get caught, teme. How was I supposed to know he could go in and out of these things?"

"Well _maybe_ if you had just the _slightest_ bit of intelligence in that massive head of yours, you would have stayed where you were and observed him _before_ running over here. That way you wouldn't be fighting blind and only _one of us would be stuck in here_!"

"Is it common for Konoha ninja to fight with each other in the middle of a battle?" asked the fake hunter ninja. When he got Naruto and Sasuke's attention, instead of waiting for an answer, he continued to speak. "I will give you one last chance to give up. I do not wish to kill either of you, but if you insist on fighting me, I will have no other choice."

Naruto smirked. "Are you serious? You expect me to give up without even trying? Your jutsu doesn't intimidate me nearly enough for that to happen."

"Watch it, dobe," said Sasuke, grabbing onto Naruto's arm to pull himself up. "This guy is really dangerous. He has clones inside these mirrors that can attack us at any angle at any time. There's no way to block it."

"I would listen to your friend here. As you have probably already noticed, your jutsu did nothing to my mirrors. It'll take a lot more heat to melt this ice," the fake hunter ninja then pulled out more senbon, as did the ones in every ice mirror.

Naruto collapsed on the ground, right next to Sasuke, feeling like she had been attacked by paper. She winced when she touched her face and arms, feeling the multiple cuts. "We have to find the real one so we can take him out. And fast."

"Don't you think I've tried? I've looked at every mirror three times over and _nothing_ has given me any clues as to where the original is," said Sasuke, picking himself up once again.

"In that case..." suddenly, a dozen shadow clones appeared inside the dome, at least one heading towards each mirror. Instead of stopping them, the fake hunter ninja let the clones attempt their attack. The clones punched the mirrors where the fake hunter ninja's face was, however nothing happened.

"You don't have nearly enough strength to break these mirrors," just then, all the clones were destroyed by senbon needles.

 _'Wait, I saw it!'_ thought Sasuke. _'But just barely. The water droplets in the air from the ice mirrors was disturbed, like something went through it. Maybe there are no clones in these mirrors... maybe there's just one guy moving so fast our eyes can't see him. If I just had more time...'_

"Naruto, do it again!" he shouted.

"What?"

"Your clone jutsu. Use it again."

"Fine, but you better have a plan," Naruto created a dozen more clones, each doing the exact same thing as before.

" **Katon: Gōkakyū no Jutsu**!" Sasuke released a fireball and watched it sail over the clones. He smirked when he saw it graze a blur. _'Got you that time.'_

"I thought we already established that fire does nothing against this guy."

"Look around you. Notice something?" Sasuke gestured to the now empty mirrors.

"Wait, what?"

"There were no clones at all. This ninja was just moving so fast we couldn't see him."

"You figured it out, congratulations," the fake hunter ninja said before throwing more senbon. Naruto cried out when she was hit by the weapons again, but this time they were lodged inside her arms, legs and torso.

"Naruto!" shouted Sasuke, growling soon after when it was his turn, however it was clear that Naruto got the worst of it.

"My patience has run out. This ends now," more senbon were thrown towards Sasuke, but instead the boy caught one and deflected the rest. _'What?!'_

 _'Sasuke's starting to get the hang of this.'_

" **It appears so. What now?** "

 _'There's not much I can do here,'_ Naruto thought. The girl turned her attention to the ongoing fight involving the rest of the Genin. Team 10 and Sakura were still fighting strong, but a lot of the thugs weren't staying down for very long. Eventually, they would be overwhelmed. _'These needles have hindered my movement, so I'm too weak to fight. Although I hate to admit it, Sasuke's the only chance we've got here.'_

Suddenly, Naruto felt herself being picked up and carried away. A second later she was being placed gently on the ground, and when she looked up, she saw multiple senbon lodged into the ground where she once was. "Sasuke?" she asked. The boy standing above her looked down and Naruto's eyes widened in surprise.

" **Looks like the spoiled little shit finally awakened his Sharingan. Fucking** _ **great**_ **.** "

"You don't have to worry now. I can _see him_ ," Sasuke stepped forward, however his latest stunt seemed to have affected him more than he thought. The Uchiha grunted before falling to one knee.

 _'This is my chance,'_ thought the fake hunter ninja. The masked boy left his mirror, charging towards the fallen shinobi with his needles raised.

Naruto growled. _'Oh no you don't you_ bastard! _'_

* * *

"Why work for a psychopath like Zabuza?!" asked Asuma, trying to distract Aoi until he could figure out a way to get out of this position. There was no way he could push back against Aoi, not while his sword was so strong, and it would be suicide if he backed off.

"Money. Why else? Gatō is paying me a lot to help the guy out, enough to get on some warm, sandy beaches far away from here."

"You think Konoha would let you get that far? You can't outrun us, no matter how much money you have."

"And who's gonna tell them how close they are to me? _You_?! Ha! You'll be dead before my name can leave your mouth again," it was then Asuma noticed something. Near the hilt of the lightning blade was a small, almost invisible crack, and around it Asuma could sense a mass of chakra.

 _'If I'm right, that's the centre of its chakra source. Could it be possible that the stronger the blade's attacks get, the weaker its structure? Kami is smiling upon me today.'_

"Why are you smirking like that? Do you want to die that badly?"

"I'm just thinking about how pathetic you are. You betray your village by tricking a kid into stealing a weapon for you, something you, a grown ninja, couldn't even do yourself. And then you sell your information to another village in hopes of becoming one of them, but the fact that you're here proves that they didn't even want you."

"Shut up!" Aoi, becoming enraged by Asuma's words, poured his remaining chakra into the _Raijin no Ken_. What the man didn't realise was that was exactly what Asuma wanted him to do. The sword's crack only grew bigger, and when it seemed like the blade was finally going to shatter, Asuma pushed up and away with his trench knives, surprising Aoi and causing him to stumble backwards.

 _'I got you now,'_ thought Asuma as he raised his chakra-coated weapons above his head. In a desperate attempt to protect his body from the incoming strike, Aoi too raised his weapon with the flat side of the blade facing Asuma. The Sarutobi brought his knives down as hard and fast as he could, focusing the tips on one specific point. The second they made contact, Aoi's beloved _Raijin no Ken_ shattered, showering him with the small pieces.

Aoi, mouth agape, was too shocked to realise that Asuma still wasn't finished with him yet. Before he could react, the Sarutobi punched him across the jaw, staggering him until he was standing on the edge of the truss. With one kick to the stomach, Aoi was sent tumbling down.

 _'I'd be doing the village a favour if I got rid of him...'_ thought Asuma as Aoi stabbed what remained of his sword into one of the bridge's pillars, slowing and eventually halting his descent. Asuma looked down at Aoi and performed several hand-signs. " **Katon: Haisekishō**!" a large cloud of ash flew from Asuma's mouth surrounding Aoi and before the latter had time to think, Asuma created a spark with the piece of flint between his teeth, igniting the ash.

With a scream of pain, Aoi, along with the sword, fell the remaining distance down until his body landed on the bridge with a loud ' _smack_ '. However, it didn't end there. Asuma was shocked to see Aoi, flames from his jutsu still burning him, run frantically to the edge of the bridge. The Sarutobi could barely see through the bright orange fire, but it was clear that Aoi had numerous broken bones. Despite that, the man had enough energy to throw himself from the bridge and into the icy depths below.

Cursing, Asuma channelled chakra into his feet and ran down the side of the bridge until he was a few metres above the water's surface. He tried looking for any sign of life, however after a few minutes of scanning the water with his eyes, he was satisfied, believing Aoi had perished.

* * *

Zabuza jumped to the side, just in time to dodge Kakashi's lighting-based attack. Zabuza then counter-attacked by swinging his sword in front of him, aiming to cut the Hatake's body in half, but the Konoha ninja was too fast. Zabuza laughed and swung his sword up to rest on his shoulder. "I didn't think anyone could sneak up behind me," he said to a stationary Kakashi. The man was standing behind Zabuza, facing away from him.

"Face the facts. You can't win."

"I could say the same to you. Those brats of yours can't win against Haku."

"Haku?!" Kakashi asked in alarm.

"Yeah, he told me what he did for the blonde one. Surprised? I wasn't. Although Haku has no problem crushing the kindness in his heart when I need him to, he can't help but take pity on those in need, even if they are enemy ninja. If I told Haku to kill someone, he would do it in a heartbeat. Can you say the same for your students?"

Kakashi stayed silent, giving Zabuza the answer he was looking for. "That's why they'll lose to him. I've been teaching him how to kill since he was a child, and now he's become the perfect fighting machine with a lethal Kekkei Genkai as a bonus. A ninja doesn't need feelings, all they need is power," the Momochi turned around to look Kakashi in the eye. "That's something I'm sure at least one of those weaklings will learn, _if_ they survive."

"You-"

"What's the matter? You got behind me, so bring it," when nothing came, Zabuza chuckled. "What's wrong? Did the realisation get to you? Fine," suddenly, 'Zabuza' turned into water. "Allow me."

Kakashi gasped and ducked, feeling the sword go straight over his head. The Jōnin kicked Zabuza's leg, forcing him to step back and give Kakashi space to get up. As soon as the masked ninja was on his knees, Zabuza came at him with an overhead strike, which was blocked by one of Kakashi's kunai.

"Yes, that's what I like to see!" the missing ninja angled his blade and pushed it away from himself, disarming Kakashi and almost taking his fingers off in the process. Kakashi managed to land another kick on Zabuza's leg, temporarily putting him off balance. Kakashi then shoulder-barged the other man, knocking him onto his back.

 _'A ninja doesn't need feelings?'_

Kakashi stepped back a few paces, charging up his **Chidori**. Meanwhile, Zabuza had jumped up and was getting ready to charge at Kakashi.

 _' Zabuza, a man like you should know, even a ninja can't live without feelings... as a machine.'_

Both men ran at each other, their own forms of attack raised.

 _'You and that kid... you're both_ human _.'_

When they were close enough to each other, Kakashi fell to his knees, using the water to slid under Zabuza and through his legs. He then turned around so he was facing Zabuza's back, and before the missing ninja could counter him, Kakashi pushed his **Chidori** through the man's upper back. _'It's over, Zabuza.'_

Kakashi then noticed a very important detail; there was no blood. Kakashi's eyes narrowed when 'Zabuza' turned into water once again.

"It's over, Kakashi!" shouted Zabuza. The Hatake quickly turned around, however he had no time to react. Zabuza was already in mid-swing. Any second now, Kakashi would be sushi.

Just as the sword was about to cut into the Konoha ninja, Kakashi heard a grunt and suddenly something was slamming into the back of his knees. Gravity instantly worked against (or in favour in this situation) him and he was sent to the ground. Zabuza growled as his sword met nothing, and just to add another injury to his pride, he was forced to retreat when a wind-coated blade was aiming for his throat.

"You okay there, Kakashi?" Asuma asked while kneeling next to his friend. The man had arrived just in time to slide-tackle Kakashi down and make a swipe at Zabuza. **(A/N: I took inspiration for this scene from FMA: Brotherhood. Let me know in a review if you know what I'm talking about ;) )**

"Just peachy. Nice save."

"Thanks. Ready to fight this lunatic together?"

"Let's do it."

* * *

Sasuke groaned, looking up from his place on the ground. The first thing he saw was the back of Naruto's legs, the next was the fake hunter ninja's body lying just a couple of feet in front of them both. _'That dobe really did it?'_

"I really hate you... ya know?" Naruto said. Sasuke's eyes continued their way up until they got to Naruto's upper body. When they finished their path, the Uchiha's mouth opened in shock, but no sound left. The kunoichi's body was covered in needles, not just her arms or legs. The fact that she was able to get to Sasuke so fast was unbelievable. When she turned her head to look at him, the Uchiha saw the small trail of blood leaking from her mouth. "Hehe, you should really see the look on your ugly face... priceless."

"Why... why did you save me?"

"I don't know... I guess I just did," as Naruto finished speaking, her body started to feel heavy. Too heavy for her to stand. The girl fell backwards, but instead of hitting solid concrete and causing further damage, two arms carefully caught her and gently lowered her down until her lower body was resting on the ground and her upper body was being supported by Sasuke. The Uzumaki didn't feel anything beyond that, because as she was falling, her eyes began to close and her body became numb.

"Naruto? Naruto, open your eyes."

"She ran into danger to save you, knowing that it would result in her death. She was brave, braver than most ninja I've ever known, therefore her death was honourable," Sasuke ignored the fake hunter ninja who was returning to his mirror. "Is this your first time witnessing an ally's death? This is part of what it means to be a ninja. It's best that you know that now."

"Naruto, please. Wake up!" the Uchiha began to shake his teammate, but when he realised he wasn't going to get a response, he stopped and let out all of his anger and sadness. " _NARUTO!_ "

* * *

 _"NARUTO!"_

Sakura snapped her head towards the source of the cry, recognising Sasuke's voice immediately. The other Konoha Genin, finally defeating the thugs and only receiving a few wounds in return, following Sakura's lead. Tazuna still stayed behind them, however he too looked over at the ice dome in concern.

Sakura and Ino were the first ones to get closer to the ice dome in order to see why their crush yelled out the Uzumaki's name, and when they did, their breathing stopped for a few moments.

"Naruto..." whimpered Ino, raising her shaking hands to cover her open mouth. Tears leaked from both of their eyes, however Sakura was the first to wipe hers away. She clenched her fists, and just as the rest of their comrades joined them, Sakura stopped thinking.

With the image of Naruto laying down, bleeding and not moving, she made her decision. Ignoring the calls from Team 10 as she ran headfirst towards the enemy, the Haruno converted all of her sadness into rage, and she had a fuckton of it.

Sakura pulled her left hand back as she got closer to the first ice mirror. She wasn't going to slip herself between them to get in there, she was going _break_ them. Sakura clenched her fist, but in way that looked like she was grabbing onto something. Shikamaru was the first to notice it.

 _'Is that chakra around her fist? The only way that could become visible is if it's dense enough, and that only happens when there's a lot of in being concentrated into one place. Is she... is she going to do what I think she's going to do?'_

"You _bastard_!" with a scream, Sakura smashed her fist into the first ice mirror. Immediately the whole mirror smashed into pieces, little bits of the ice penetrating Sakura's skin but she hardly felt it.

Sasuke almost jumped ten feet into the air from fear. The last thing he was expecting was Sakura smashing her way towards them. "Sakura... what the-?"

The Haruno ignored Sasuke and instead crouched down on the other side of Naruto. Slowly and carefully, Sakura lay her undamaged hand on Naruto's head, afraid she might make break her. "Is she...?"

"I-I don't know. There's not a pulse but-"

"Point me towards him."

Sasuke looked into Sakura's eyes and saw a type of strength, a power, that wasn't there before. If he went up against Sakura while she was in this state, he honestly wasn't sure if he would win. "What do you mean?"

Sakura pulled out two kunai and handed one to Sasuke. "Point me towards him," she said, subtly gesturing to her own eyes so the fake hunter ninja couldn't see.

 _'This girl was able to break one of my mirrors? Zabuza-sama, who are we truly facing?'_ he thought as he used some of his chakra to conjure another ice mirror to replace the destroyed one.

The Uchiha, finally understanding Sakura's plan, nodded his head and accepted the kunai. Once he lowered the rest of the Uzumaki's body down, he stood next to Sakura.

"One of you has died today. Please, don't make it three."

"Shut up you sick son of a bitch," Sakura growled, surprising Sasuke even more today. The boy's throat began to dry from both fear and slight awe of the girl beside him. He had _never_ seen her like this before. If he had, then perhaps he wouldn't have treated her the way he did in the academy.

"Very well," the fake hunter ninja continued his assault, however most of his senbon were being deflected by the two Genin, more so by Sasuke who had his Sharingan to help. A few managed to get past Sakura's defence, but that didn't seem to bother her too much.

Sasuke focused his remaining energy and chakra on following the masked boy's path, trying to predict where he would go next. At first, it seemed impossible, but slowly his new eyes were beginning to see a pattern emerge. When Sasuke knew he had him, he whispered to Sakura. "Sakura, one-hundred and twenty degrees to your right... NOW!"

" _I got you!_ " she yelled, clenching the chakra between her fingers while turning. Exactly as Sasuke predicted, the fake hunter ninja was right in Sakura's path. As her fist made contact with the fake hunter-ninja's mask, she released all the concentrated chakra. The reaction was instant.

Every ice mirror around the duo shattered, the ice melting into droplets of water that rained down on them. Their enemy was sent flying backwards, skidding across the bridge until his back hit the railing, and even that bent back slightly from the force.

The Konoha Genin and Tazuna were now able to see the aftermath of Sakura and Sasuke's combined effort, and they were speechless. But it wasn't over yet.

Sakura landed on the fake hunter ninja, knees digging into his stomach, knocking the breath out of him. "I'm gonna kill you!" Sakura gathered more chakra into her fist and brought it down towards the boy below her, however she suddenly stopped merely centimetres away from his face. "It's you..."

Haku was breathing heavily. The small bits remaining of his mask were falling away from his face. Sakura recognised him, despite the badly broken and bleeding nose, as the boy who greatly helped Naruto's recovery.

"Why did you stop? Did you not just claim you were going to kill me to avenge your comrade's death?"

"I don't understand, you... you _helped_ her! Why? Why would you do this?"

Haku sighed and closed his eyes. "You told me she was precious to you, remember? Well, Zabuza is my precious person. Long ago, he saved me and gave me a purpose, so I use my life to repay him for his kindness. Anything he asks of me, I shall do until it kills me. That is my ninja way."

 _'I'm never gonna give up, run away or go back on my word. That is my nindō, my ninja way!'_

Haku opened his eyes when he felt something warm fall onto his cheek. The girl above him was crying, her anger subsiding for now. He smiled. "Yes, I think I understand now. I was wrong in my assumption of how precious she was to you," his attention was diverted momentarily when he heard a crackling sound. "I'm sorry, but I must cut this short, my precious person needs me. I wish you best of luck, Haruno Sakura."

Faster than Sakura's eyes could track, Haku performed hand-signs with one hand and used his other hand to push Sakura off of him. He then jumped into the ice mirror that appeared next to him, vanishing before Sakura could register what was happening.

* * *

"Asuma, behind you!" Kakashi shouted to his friend, but it was too late. By the time Asuma had turned, Zabuza's sword was already cutting through his body. Fortunately though, the Momochi didn't have a lot of energy left, so the sword didn't go too deep, giving Asuma time to jump back. It did, however, do enough damage to force Asuma out of the fight. "Asuma, stay down! I've got this," Kakashi said as he pulled out a scroll, unravelling it and swiping some of Zabuza's blood he had collected earlier down it, sealing it back up again when he was done. "Zabuza, we both have places to be. Let's end this now, shall we?"

The Hatake went through hand-signs with the scroll before slamming it onto the ground. " **Kuchiyose: Doton: Tsuiga no Jutsu**!"

A few seconds later, the ground beneath Zabuza began to tremble, multiple cracks appearing. Suddenly, the ground burst open, followed by huge dogs, all wearing Konoha headbands. They all bit down on Zabuza in multiple places: his legs, arms, torso. The biggest had even bitten into his shoulder and dug his claws into his upper arms.

"This is the end for you, Zabuza. **Raikiri**!" Kakashi, once he finished channelling chakra on his hand turning it into lightning charged towards Zabuza. With all the dogs holding him in one place, there was no way he'd be able to dodge it.

Going at the speed he was now, there was no way he'd be able to stop, so when the water below Zabuza began to rise and form a block of ice, Kakashi tried to cut off the chakra flowing to his hand, but it was too late. He felt the warm liquid coat his hand and the strong grip Haku had on his wrist.

"Z-Zabuza-sama..." the boy just barely managed to utter his name. The dogs holding the missing ninja disappeared in puffs of smoke, two senbon needles piercing the scroll laying on the ground behind Kakashi.

The Hatake was frozen. Too many memories were going through his head from him to be able to tear himself away from Haku. All of them included a brunette from his past.

"Well done Haku. You've not only given me my life, but Kakashi's as well. Now, Sharingan no Kakashi, _die_!" Zabuza's shout knocked Kakashi out of his memory assault, and when he realised that Zabuza was about to cut both him and Haku down, he grabbed the boy and used some of his chakra to leap away from Zabuza's strike. Kakashi set Haku's body down and frowned as he closed the boy's eyes.

"Zabuza, he gave his life to protect yours. Doesn't that mean anything to you?"

"Why should it? I trained him for this exact thing. He was a tool that fulfilled his purpose. Now I can kill you!" Zabuza ran towards Kakashi, his sword at the ready, but Kakashi only glared at him. When he was close enough for his sword to hit him, Kakashi disappeared. "What?!" before he could react, Kakashi reappeared behind him and slammed two kunai into his left arm, rendering them useless. The Hatake then pulled out another two, and when Zabuza realised what was happening, he attempting to hit Kakashi with his sword again. The masked man simply ducked under the slow attack and stabbed Zabuza's other arm with the two kunai. Finally, he kicked swiped Zabuza's feet from underneath him, knocking him to the ground.

"It's over, Zabuza. You don't have any chakra or energy left. Give up," Kakashi pulled out one more kunai, ready to end Zabuza's life if he tried to attack him again, but before the missing ninja had a chance to do so, the sound of something hard smacking against the bridge stopped him.

"I must say, I'm quite disappointed in you, Zabuza," a short man in a black suit said from further down the bridge. Behind him were dozens of men armed with varying weapons, not unlike the ones Team 10 and Sakura were fighting. Now that the mist had finally cleared, this scene was visible for everyone on the bridge.

"Gatō, I don't understand. What are you doing here?" asked Zabuza.

"Well you see, there's been a slight change of plan. You and Aoi are going to die on this bridge, and by the looks of it Aoi has already taken that step. The both of you were too expensive so I've decided to take you off the payroll. Of course, the thugs I've brought with me are quite pricey as well, so if you could kill a few of them before they take you down, I'd appreciate it."

Zabuza laughed. "Kakashi, it seems we have a temporary alliance. Since I'm no longer working for this rat, Tazuna is safe from me."

"That reminds me," Gatō approached Haku's corpse, nudging his face with his foot. "This piece of shit grabbed me and nearly broke my arm. If only he were alive to feel this," he said as he slammed his foot onto the boy's face. Sakura and Sasuke glared at Gatō, the former holding Naruto's body close to her. Team 10 and Tazuna were standing behind her, except Ino who was crouching beside her.

"Are you seriously just going to let him do that?" Zabuza turned his head to look at the source of the voice, as did Kakashi and Asuma. "He lived and died for you, and only _you_. He threw his life away, and for what? For you and your pathetic existence? He didn't have any dreams of his own, but he didn't care because he was happy that he could be useful to you, and you just toss him aside like he was nothing?! I _hate_ people like you!" Sakura shouted at Zabuza, having no fear at all for the Kirigakure no Kijin.

"Kid, has anyone ever told you that you talk too much?" the missing ninja asked, and although his voice was steady and calm, all of the ninja on the bridge noticed his shaking shoulders. He was crying. "While Haku was fighting you and your friends, his heart was breaking in two. He was always too soft, too kind. He felt pain and sorrow, and curse him, I feel it too... and something else. If this is the way it ends, I'm content."

Using his sharpened teeth, Zabuza tore apart the bandages wrapped around his mouth. When Gatō gasped, he smirked. "What? Are you surprised to see I'm human? The truth is, every shinobi is human and no matter how hard we try to fight against our nature, we always fail. In the end, our emotions are the things that drive us towards our dreams. Haku knew that more than anyone.

"Kid, you're wrong. Haku did have a dream. That dream, was me," Zabuza nodded to Kakashi. "Pass me one of your kunai."

The Hatake pulled one from his pouch and tossed it to Zabuza who caught it between his teeth. Gatō knowing that Zabuza was coming for him, yelled at his men to kill Zabuza, but they were no match. The Momochi charged straight through them, slicing the throats of anyone that got in his way. A few of them, however, were able to get some hits in, but Zabuza never faltered. His rage at Gatō, and himself for letting Haku die, consumed him. When he was finally face-to-face with the man, he let it all out.

* * *

 _'Ugh, my head. Does this mean I'm alive?'_

 **"It sure fucking does you piece of SHIT! If it weren't for me, it'd be bye-bye little Uzumaki! Am I going to get a thank you from you? NO! Why? Because you're an ungrateful-!"**

 _'Thank you, Kyūbi-san.'_

 **"... what?"**

 _'Thank you. If it weren't for you, I'd be dead long ago.'_

 **"That's true. Sorry for... yelling. You didn't have a pulse and I started to panic, so some of my more...** _ **malicious**_ **chakra began to leak from me. Don't be surprised if you get pissed off at small things in the next few days."**

 _'Got it.'_

 **"Oh, before you get back to the devastated pinkie... my name is Kurama."**

 _'You're telling me your name?'_

 **"Yes. I believe that after this almost life-ending experience, we've bonded enough for you to earn my name. It's really something, you know. We bijū don't just give our names out to anyone."**

 _'I see. Thank you, Kurama.'_

* * *

"Sakura, it's pretty hard to breath with you on me like this," groaned Naruto, raising a hand to rub her forehead. The Kyūbi yelling at her really didn't help.

Sakura instantly silenced her cries and sat up straight, staring at Naruto like she was a ghost. The Uzumaki sat up slowly, wincing when she felt the puncture holes where the needles once were. She notices two small piles of senbon, one beside Sakura and the other beside Ino. Apparently the two girls had decided to take them out, which Naruto was grateful for. But she would never voice that.

"Naruto!" shouted Ino as she wrapped her arms around the smaller girl in a hug. The Jinchūriki tensed up at the unexpected contact, but she didn't push her away. She was far, far too tired for that. Sakura soon followed, also burying her head against Naruto's shoulder.

"Did I miss something important?" the blonde asked. Sasuke smirked and shook his head.

"Nah, don't worry about it."

* * *

 **A/N: Holy mother of Jesus it feels like it's been 50 years since I've touched this story. I am so, so sorry. I know I promised I would get back into writing shape, but I've been worrying about school. I have exams in January and I am completely unprepared for them. I most likely won't be able to get another chapter out until February/March, which I deeply apologise for. I just want to give a huuuuuge thank you to all of you that have stayed with me through this, even when I have hiatus after hiatus. I hope I don't disappoint you.**

 **Finally, Sakura gets her moment to shine. This is when she starts using those chakra punches for real. I feel like she should have gotten this boost earlier in the series than she did in canon, but whatever Kishimoto.**

 **I just want to point out that I'm NOT making Sakura stronger than Sasuke. Despite his comment, Sakura would not actually beat him, he just felt that way because she was radiating so much fury and strength that it frightened him a little bit.**

 **As you can also see, I've added Aoi to this story, mainly because I needed a reason to split up Asuma and Kakashi so it wouldn't be a 2v1 against Zabuza. If that had been the case, then the fight would be over pretty quickly.**

 **Another thing you will have noticed was Ino's thoughts during her fights. She has started to show more interest in her clan's jutsu, so expect her to have more in her arsenal in the near future. There's also been a few dialogue hints, mainly from Zabuza, so drop some guesses in a review or PM and maybe I'll confirm/deny ;)**

 **If you didn't read any of those notes, please read this at least: I'm going to be changing the name of Naruto's dōjutsu. I feel like it's too long and too basic. When I change it, I don't know. I'm not very good at naming things. IF ANYONE HAS ANY SUGGESTIONS, PLEASE LET ME KNOW!**

 **Lastly, I do apologise if you find any typos. I did use spellcheck, but as you know, that doesn't get everything and I can't be bothered proof-reading it myself. I mean, come on, it's almost 10,000 words and, like the idiot I am, I didn't proof-read it as I wrote it.**

 **[1] Kaa-chan - 'Mother'**

 **[2] Raijin no Ken - 'Sword of the Thunder God'**

 **[3] Sensatsu Suishō - 'Thousand Flying Water Needles of Death'**

 **[4] Makyō Hyōshō - 'Demonic Mirroring Ice Crystals'**

 **[5] Suiton: Suiryūdan no Jutsu - 'Water Release: Water Dragon Jutsu'**

 **[6] Fūton: Kiryū Ranbu - 'Wind Release: Air Current Wild Dance'**

 **[7] Shinranshin no Jutsu - 'Mind Destruction Jutsu'**


	9. Chūnin Exams Begin

_Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto or any of its characters_

"Thinking."  
 _'Thinking.'  
_ **"Kyūbi/Jutsu."**

 **Chapter 9: Chūnin Exams Begin**

Naruto groaned while lazily stretching her arms out above her head. She, Sakura and Sasuke had been waiting at Kakashi's favourite bridge for well over two hours now. You'd think, that after multiple D-Rank missions and one C-Rank turned A-Rank mission, they'd learn that the man never showed up on time for anything.

It had been a few weeks since Team 7 and Team 10's joint mission in Wave, however Naruto had only finished recovering a few days ago. Physically, she was perfectly fine once the two teams returned to the village, but being beaten by Haku and having Sasuke and Sakura save her was a huge smack to her pride, and she didn't like it one bit. The young Uzumaki spent every day since their return training, only stopping to sleep, eat (although in the Kyūbi's opinion, she wasn't eating nearly enough) and join her team on missions. Sure, D-Rank missions were horribly boring but Naruto's got to get money from somewhere. Ever since she became a ninja, the Hokage had slowly been reducing the amount of money she received from him monthly, claiming that as a ninja she needed to learn how to support herself financially. She couldn't really argue against that.

Naruto turned around so that instead of her back touching the bridge's railing, her stomach was. Using her arms to support herself, the girl leaned over to observe the clear running water below. It was almost tempting to just let herself fall in and allow the current to take her somewhere. Training all day yesterday had exhausted her enough for the sleepiness to carry on to today, which was really unfortunate considering her sensei claimed to have something important for them.

Just as she was about to close her eyes and rest for a bit, she felt the right side of her face begin to itch. Turning her head in that direction resulted in eye-contact with her least favourite person.

"What the hell do you want, teme? Stop staring at me, it's creepy."

"How did you get that dōjutsu?" he asked, tilting his head to the side slightly like he was trying to figure out the solution to a puzzle. Naruto being the puzzle. The Haruno, who was sitting on a patch of grass not too far away, perked her head up at the question, clearly wanting to know the answer as well.

"If I tell you what I know, will you stop bothering me?" when the Uzumaki received a small nod from the Uchiha, she continued speaking. "Admittedly, I don't know much. In fact, I'm pretty sure that in comparison with what I don't know, I barely know anything at all. Where to start..." the blonde sighed.

 _'If only Kakashi-sensei were here, I'd bet he knows more than me.'_

 **"Yeah, probably..."** Naruto failed to catch the almost sad tone in the Kyūbi's voice.

Suddenly, Naruto remembered the design of Konoha's flak jacket. "Sasuke, you know the orange spiral that Kakashi has on his jacket? The same one I had on my jumpsuit?"

"Yeah. What about it?"

"That's the Uzumaki Spiral, pretty much the equivalent of the Uchiha Paper Fan. My clan originated from an island called Uzushiogakure which is to the east of the Land of Fire, and due to the strong alliance between the Uzumaki clan and the Senju clan, the Uzumaki Spiral was added to the Konoha flak jacket. In addition, the Uzumaki clan would provide fūinjutsu to Konoha when necessary.

"Uzushiogakure's head Uzumaki family had a dōjutsu, which is why they were in charge of the island. That was just officially though, because the whole island acted like one big family. Unfortunately, due the Uzumaki's long life, huge chakra supply, their mastery in fūinjutsu and I think a couple of other things, many nations feared them.

"Uzushiogakure was attacked by the neighbouring Kirigakure, mainly because they didn't like how powerful the clan was but also because their Kage at the time despised anyone with a Kekkei Genkai and wanted to rid the world of them. Even though the Uzumaki clan had a dōjutsu and not a Kekkei Genkai, that wasn't widely known at the time and was therefore mistaken for one. However, even though Kirigakure was massive compared to Uzushiogakure, they won. Not without suffering many losses, though."

"Wait, so your entire clan was wiped out?"

"Pretty much. Kirigakure claimed responsibility for the whole attack, but many believe that they weren't alone. Despite having the Seven Ninja Swordsmen, the Rokubi and the Sanbi, Kirigakure still shouldn't have been able to destroy Uzushio. The island, although small, had some of the best ninja to defend it," she finished with a shrug. "That's about all I know."

"Wow. So the Uzumaki clan were really powerful, huh?" asked Sakura as she was making her way towards her teammates.

"Yeah. I'm pretty sure the Senju clan is distantly related to the Uzumaki clan somewhere down the line as well, that's why the alliance was so strong. That, and the fact that many people married someone from the other clan, creating lots of Senju-Uzumaki bonds."

"So... I guess that means that because the Senju and the Uchiha were once closely related, the Uzumaki and the Uchiha were as well?"

Naruto and Sasuke shared a look and shrugged. Sakura took that as a 'yes'.

* * *

"Yo!" exclaimed Kakashi, seemingly appearing from nowhere. Sakura yelped, almost jumping five feet into the air. Naruto's head snapped towards Kakashi, but otherwise she gave no visible signs of being surprised. Sasuke just glared at him for being so late again. "How are my little Genin doing today?"

"What is it that you wanted to tell us, Kakashi-sensei?" Naruto asked impatiently, crossing her arms and scowling at the masked man.

"You want to cut right to the chase? All right, but first," the Hatake pulled out three pieces of square green paper. "I want you three to hold one of these in your hand and channel some of your chakra into it. This will reveal what your chakra nature is."

"And... why is this important? Can't we just learn whatever jutsu we want?"

"Well Naruto, you technically can, but it's easier to learn jutsu that uses an element that you have an affinity for. For example, Sasuke, being an Uchiha, undoubtedly has an affinity for fire. That means that he would learn fire based jutsu faster than, let's say, wind based jutsu. It's important to know because it would prevent him from learning a decent wind jutsu when he could have learned two strong fire jutsu in the same amount of time. Does that make sense?" when he received a nod from all three of his students, he handed them a piece of paper each.

Naruto and Sakura both turned to look at Sasuke, expecting him to go first, who merely rolled his eyes in response. The paper in his hand was briefly surrounded with a blue glow before one half of it turned into ash and the other wrinkled.

"Hey Sasuke, that's pretty cool. Most people usually have one affinity, but it looks like you have two: fire and lightning. How about you, Sakura?" Kakashi took Sasuke's remaining bit of paper and placed it in his pocket to dispose of later.

Sakura's paper had a blue glow, just like Sasuke's, except hers crumpled into dirt. "Um, what does this mean?"

"It means your affinity is earth. But if I'm right..." the Jōnin brushed the dirt off of Sakura's hand and reached into one of his pouches, the same one he pulled the original bits of paper from.

"Kakashi-sensei?" asked the Haruno when her sensei tore that bit of green paper in half and handed it to her.

"I just want to test a theory. Go on, do the same as before."

Sakura, although a bit sceptical, did as her sensei asked. To her surprise, once the bits of paper finished glowing blue, her hand began to glow green and the two bits of paper became one again.

"Ah, just as I suspected. Sakura, you have a natural talent for medical jutsu."

"Wait, what?"

"Hardly any ninja can say this, not even the professionals that work in the hospital, but instead of having a second elemental affinity, you have medical skills inside you without having to ever practice it. Of course, that doesn't mean you can start healing injuries with a click of your fingers. You'd have to train, just everyone else, but it would come a lot easier to you and eventually you'd surpass most medic-ninjas that would have years of experience compared to you. I'm very impressed, Sakura."

"O-oh. Thanks, Kakashi-sensei," the Haruno smiled and gripped the paper in her hand a bit tighter.

"You want to keep that?" he asked with amusement evident in his voice.

"Um, yes please."

Kakashi chuckled and ruffled her hair, which just resulted in her smacking his hand away and trying to get her hair back into the neat style it was in.

"All right Naruto, just you left. Let's see what you've got."

Naruto took her eyes away from Sakura, who was still touching her hair but had moved her gaze to the small blonde, obviously curious to see what her chakra affinity, or affinities, were. Meanwhile, the girl herself was beginning to worry. What if she only had one affinity? Sasuke has two and Sakura has apparently got a natural talent for healing. It would be humiliating for her to only have a single chakra nature.

The Uzumaki took and deep breath and decided that the best course of action was to just dive right in. The girl closed her eye and concentrated, but it didn't take more than a second for the paper in her hand to change.

The Jinchūriki opened her eye and was pleasantly surprised to see her results. First, the paper had split into two. One half turned into ash, and the other became damp.

"Wow, Naruto, you have three chakra natures: wind, fire and water. That's rare, well done," Kakashi praised his student. _'Although I do suspect that the Kyūbi has something to do with the fire. Every Tailed Beast has a specific chakra nature, and I'm pretty sure fire is his.'_

Sasuke, although annoyed at the fact that Naruto had an extra affinity, was also slightly happy for her. It also meant that he potentially had a strong, reliable teammate that he could count on if a battle started to go downhill for him. Having Sakura as a medic-ninja was also a good bonus as it meant he could fight for longer.

Sakura was happy for Naruto, but when she caught herself smiling at the other girl, who thankfully wasn't looking in her direction, she frowned. Her sensei, unfortunately, noticed Sakura's previous expression and did one of his 'eye smiles'. The Haruno just glared at him, daring him to say something about it, but he didn't.

 _'This has been an interesting day. Not only have I collected every basic chakra nature in my team, but they all seem to have a counter for another person. Sakura's earth counters Naruto's water, Naruto's water counters Sasuke's fire, Sasuke's fire counters Naruto's wind, Naruto's wind counters Sasuke's lightning, and Sasuke's lightning counters Sakura's earth. As for Naruto's fire, that can be cancelled by Sasuke's own fire,'_ the Jōnin thought.

"Okay you three, time to get to what I really came here for," the silver haired man pulled out three pink slips, each with the words 'CHŪNIN EXAM' printed in bold at the top of the slip. "Yesterday the other Jōnin sensei and I met with the Hokage in order to suggest whether or not our teams are capable of taking part in the Chūnin exam. Of course, I said yes, " each of the Genin took one of the pink slips and looked over it. "That doesn't mean you _have_ to enter. You can always wait until next year, which is what most of the other sensei with a new team are doing. But I have to warn you, you can only enter as a team. Meaning, that if one of you doesn't do it, then none of you are doing it. The first round takes place at the end of this week, so if you want to take part, go to the ninja academy at noon on the date printed on your slip," the three Genin nodded in understanding.

"Is that all, sensei?" asked Sakura after she had put her slip into her pouch.

"Sasuke, Naruto, you two can go home. Sakura, I'd like to speak to you for a moment, if you wouldn't mind."

The Uchiha and the Uzumaki glanced at Sakura, but she seemed to be as confused as they were. Sasuke muttered his usual 'hn' before making his way back home, most likely eager to begin training again. Naruto shrugged, not particularly bothered about why her sensei wanted to speak to Sakura, so she too left.

"Did you need something from me, Kakashi-sensei?"

"Actually, I want to give you something," the Hatake zipped his flak jacket down far enough so that he could slip his hand inside, and when he pulled it back out, a rectangular shaped flat box came with it. "When we returned to Tazuna's house after the battle on the bridge, I noticed the injuries on your hand. I asked Sasuke about them, and he told me what you did to Haku's jutsu. Sakura, why didn't you come to me about this?"

"I'm sorry, sensei," Sakura bowed her head.

"Hey, I'm not mad at you. In fact, I'm happy for you. Your chakra control is astounding, truly. When I was your age, I was a prodigy that could master almost any jutsu, which required me to have great chakra control, but I don't think I could have done what you did. The technique you used consumes a lot of chakra from the user, but you managed to use it twice without coming close to draining your limited supply. However, it obviously has a consequence. You can't seem to stop your hands from being injured in the process."

"I just don't know how to release my chakra for an attack while also protecting my knuckles."

"And that's why I got you these," Kakashi opened the small box to reveal a pair of black gloves. The area around the knuckles and first part of the fingers were padded, but on closer inspection Sakura could see small seals carved into the padding. "When you use your chakra punch technique, these gloves will convert a fraction of the chakra used into protection for your hand. This way, you won't hurt yourself when attacking."

The Haruno took the gloves out of the box and turned them over in her hands, feeling the soft, but strong, material. The Genin then slipped the gloves on and clenched her fists a few times. "They fit perfectly. Thank you very much, sensei."

"There's no need to thank me, Sakura. You're my student and I want you to succeed. Now, there's one more thing I want to talk to you about. How do you feel about the Chūnin exams?"

Sakura frowned and suddenly found a rock on the ground very interesting.

"Sakura?" he asked, placing a hand on her shoulder.

"I want to do it, Kakashi-sensei. Really, I do, but I don't know if I'm ready. And if I don't turn up, Sasuke-kun and Naruto will be mad at me-"

"Sakura, don't think about them, okay? If you don't want to do it, then don't. It doesn't matter what they think, and besides, I think they might surprise you. Anyway, if you do end up taking part, then don't worry about not doing well. Sasuke and Naruto will be there to back you up the whole way, and you will back them up as well. Teamwork is everything. That's why, this year, everyone is being made to enter as a team. It'll be fine, you'll see," the man finished with a smile.

* * *

The young pinkette was humming to herself as she walked through the streets of Konoha. She was on her way to her love rival's flower shop in order to ask if she too had been asked to enter the Chūnin exams. Secretly, she hoped the answer was yes because this would be the best way to prove to everyone that she wasn't the weakest link anymore. And just maybe she wanted to pummel Ino's ass into the ground, but she wouldn't admit that out loud. Yet.

" _KONOHAMARU_!" suddenly, a young boy with a long blue scarf ran past her at full speed. She almost didn't see what he was holding. A few seconds later, her thoughts were confirmed when her blonde teammate almost knocked her over, but thankfully her reflexes were fast enough to allow her to sidestep out of the way in time. Naruto's mask had been stolen by Konohamaru, so the kunoichi was forced to cover the left side of her face with her hand.

Sakura, not wanting this to end violently, chased after them. She only had to run for a minute before she managed to catch up to them, however that was due to the arrival of two strangers. One was a girl, a few inches taller than Sakura herself. She had dirty blonde hair that was held in four very short ponytails, and she was carrying a large fan on her back. The other was a boy, around the same height as the girl. Most of his body was covered by a black jumpsuit and cowl, and he had a strange object wrapped in bandages strapped to his back. Both were wearing Sunagakure headbands.

"Well, look what we have here. A Konoha brat, and a feisty one too," the boy commented as Konohamaru continued to try and free himself from the grip the Sand ninja had on his scarf.

"Kankuro, just put him down or you'll regret it later," the girl said.

"If I were you, I'd do what she said," Naruto glared at him the best she could with only one visible eye.

"Huh?" asked Kankuro, who had just now noticed the Uzumaki. "Who the hell are you? And what are you gonna do to stop me? Send your girlfriend after me?" he chuckled while gesturing the Haruno who had stepped forward to stand beside her teammate.

"The name's Uzumaki Naruto, and neither me nor Sakura will be the one you have to worry about. That kid you're threatening? He's the Hokage's 'honourable grandson', so if you don't want to get your ass beat by one of the strongest ninja in the world, I'd suggest you put Konohamaru down and get lost," Kankuro's eyes widened at Naruto's words, and although he was pissed at both her and the boy in front of him, he put the latter down, who then ran and hid behind the Jinchūriki's legs. He clearly believed her wrath was the lesser evil.

"I told you, Kankuro. That's what you get for not listening to me," said the girl, smirking. Kankuro just grunted and crossed his arms. The blonde picked up Naruto's mask from the ground. It had been dropped by Konohamaru when he accidently ran face-first into Kankuro. Naruto narrowed her eyes at the older kunoichi, but accepted the mask from her, turning around to put it on so no one around could see her face. "My name is Temari, and as you know this is my dumbass brother, Kankuro. I apologise for his behaviour. He was dropped on his head multiple times as a child."

Ignoring Kankuro's 'hey!', Temari held out her hand towards Naruto, who took it. After shaking hands, Naruto's teammate spoke. "Are you two here for the Chūnin exams?"

"We are. Do you plan on entering as well?"

Before Sakura could respond, Naruto cut in. "Why? Plan on getting intel on the competition before anything's even started?"

Temari smirked and looked Naruto up and down. "If that competition is you, then yes."

 _'Did... did she just hit on Naruto?'_ Sakura asked herself. Before she could stop herself, the pinkette stepped forward and threw her arm in front of Naruto protectively. "I think you better leave. Now."

Naruto took a step backwards in surprise, while Temari just shifted her gaze to Sakura. The Suna kunoichi was about to reply, but before a word could be uttered from her mouth, she was stopped by the choking presence of K.I.

"Kankuro, Temari, what are you two doing?" the present ninja looked up to the nearest tree to see a red haired boy with a strange gourd on his back.

"Oh, h-hey Gaara," Kankuro greeted the boy with a shaky voice. Temari took a step back from Sakura in order to get closer to Kankuro.

"Did you forget why we came here in the first place? Why are you messing around with these-?" Gaara locked eyes with Naruto, and then stopped speaking. He was like a deer caught in the headlights.

"Do you _need_ something, asshole?" Naruto scowled at him, but instead of saying something back like she expected him to, he disappeared in a swirl of sand only to reappear directly in front of her. However, the girl never flinched, even when the red head shot her with what was probably meant to be his scariest glare. "Well? I don't have all day, ya know," she ignored Temari's 'What the fuck are you doing? Stop it!' actions from behind Gaara.

"Uzumaki Naruto... I will remember your name," and with that, he turned around and started to walk away, Temari and Kankuro following close behind him. Naruto growled and took a step forward, but the ever-present voice in her head stopped her.

 **"I know what you're about to do, and I'm here to tell you to stop.** _ **Don't**_ **mess with that guy."**

 _'Are you serious? Why not?'_

 **"He's like you."**

 _'You mean...'_

 **"Yes, he's a Jinchūriki. Although the beast inside of him can't be stronger than me, the boy himself is very dangerous. Not only that, but if I'm right, then the Tailed Beast he possesses has really fucked him up. He's most likely highly unstable. Stay away from him."**

 _'Which one has he got?'_

 **"My best bet would be the Ichibi, the One-Tailed Beast. For almost as long as I can remember, the Sand village has kept him locked up, and honestly it's for the best. That guy has some serious problems, and he always shares those problems with his Jinchūriki whether they want them or not. It's almost sad, really."**

"Hey, Naruto. You okay?" asked Sakura, tapping Naruto's shoulder. Suddenly, the Uzumaki remembered what her teammate had done during the previous confrontation. Immediately, she slapped Sakura's hand away and glared at her.

"What the fuck is your problem? I don't need anyone, _especially_ _you_ , standing up for me. Got it?" Naruto regretted saying that immediately and braced herself for a broken nose.

"Oh, sorry. I... didn't realise that would offend you," Sakura looked down sorrowfully, which just confused Naruto and almost made her pinch herself, not believing that this could actually be happening. Haruno Sakura was apologising to her.

"Um... excuse me?"

"I'm sorry," honestly, Sakura could hardly believe it herself.

"Yeah, that's what I thought you said. Are you on something?"

"What?"

"Like, drugs or alcohol. Did you hit your head, maybe?"

"No! None of that! I can't say sorry to my teammate?"

"Well, you can but you never have before. Well, whatever it doesn't matter. Apology accepted. Now, Konohamaru-" the Uzumaki sighed when she realised that the Hokage's grandson had disappeared. That little rat.

"Naruto, I have a question to ask you," Sakura said as she and the blonde left the area together. The Yamanaka flower shop and Naruto's home were in the same general direction.

"Hm?"

"Your mask. You said it was used for intimidation, but when Konohamaru stole it, you seemed to be hiding something important. What is it?"

"Nothing."

"Naruto-"

"Sakura, leave it. I'm never going to take about this mask again so you may as well save your breath," Naruto closed her eyes and linked her hands behind her head. She continued walking for a few paces but had to stop when she bumped into something soft. That something was Sakura. _'What the...? How did she get in front of me so fast and without me hearing her?'_

"Naruto, please. I'm your teammate now, and if something bad happened, then I should know so I can help you. Please-"

"Help me? _Help me_? Oh fantastic, Haruno Sakura has decided to be generous enough and lend a hand to literally the _most hated_ person in this village. I feel so blessed! Well you know what, _Sakura_? I could've really used that help about _five fucking years ago_."

Sakura frowned in confusion. "What-?"

" _No_. You don't get to act friendly, not now and not ever. You had your bloody chance and you and Ino blew it, just like you blew your friendship with her. I mean, abandoning me because the village said so is one thing, but you two decided to fight over _Sasuke_? Of all people? That's pathetic. I don't care how strong you get or how many times you save my life in a fight I will _never_ forgive you," the blonde shoved Sakura aside with her shoulder and carried on walking, not looking back to check if the pinkette was following her. Satisfied that she couldn't hear her footsteps, Naruto relaxed and sighed.

 **"That... was really harsh."**

 _'Shut up. She deserved so much more.'_

 **"No, she didn't. Naruto, all three of you were just kids. Easily influenced kids. You can't keep blaming them for what happened."**

 _'I can and I will. They're just lucky that they don't know the whole truth. If they did, I guarantee Sakura would rethink her attempts at being my friend.'_

* * *

 **A/N: Another chapter, as promised! Thankfully, exams are over and school will be finishing for a week pretty soon, so I'll try to write more then.**

 **If you read the original, then you'll notice that I switched Naruto's lightning for water this time around. Lightning is cool and all, but I'd rather Kakashi, as he said, have the whole basic collection. It also lets Sakura counter some of Naruto's attacks nicely, giving the team a decent balance.**

 **By the way, I pretty much bullshitted that Uzumaki history. Obviously, the parts about the dōjutsu and head family are my ideas, but I have no idea if Kirigakure were the ones to attack them. I just assume they were because other than Konoha, they were the closest ninja village to Uzushio. I also have no clue about the Naruto timelines, so I don't actually know if Kiri had two Tailed Beasts at that time or if they had that Mizukage that wanted to commit genocide just before Uzushio fell.**

 **I'm also having Temari do a little bit of flirting. Is it genuine? Is it just to throw Naruto off her game in the exams? I don't know. Temari is Temari. That girl is unpredictable.**

 **Naruto just laid it all out for Sakura, huh? Damn, girl. Also, besides the whole friendship with Naruto dissolving, what happened 5 years ago? Why don't Ino and Sakura know about it? Hm...**

 **Just a reminder that I'm still looking to change the name of Naruto's d** **ōjutsu** **. All suggestions are welcome, so don't feel shy!**

 **[One more thing! If you notice me calling Naruto's dōjutsu a Kekkei Genkai, please let me know so I can change it! A few times I've caught myself typing that instead.]**


	10. Sasuke vs Rock Lee

_Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto or any of its characters,_

"Talking."  
 _'Thinking.'  
_ _'Flashback.'  
_ **"Kyūbi/Jutsu."**

 **Chapter 10: Sasuke vs Rock Lee**

"Sakura, you're late," commented Sasuke as his pink haired teammate approached the entrance to the ninja academy. He and Naruto had arrived just on time, which was ten minutes ago.

"Sorry Sasuke-kun, Naruto. Should we go inside now?" Sakura asked, but instead of waiting for a response, she just opened the doors to the academy and walked in. Sasuke and Naruto shared a look before following her.

It didn't take long for them to encounter a large group of Genin, not just from Konoha but from other Hidden Villages as well. Team 7 quickly made their way to the centre of the group to see what was causing all the commotion. They made it just in time to see a boy in a green jumpsuit be knocked back by an older boy wearing a Konoha headband. "Is that all you got? You may as well turn back now. The Chūnin exam isn't for weaklings," said the attacker. His partner grinned.

"Please just let us through, we're supposed to go in there," a brunette with buns in her hair pleaded to the boys while she helped her teammate recover from the blow to his face.

"Not a chance. If you can't even get past us, then you don't deserve to enter the exams. They'll chew you up like dog food."

Sasuke scoffed and gestured for his teammates to follow him. Together, they continued past the group of Genin however before they could make it to the other side of the corridor and up the stairs, one of the older boys yelled at him. "Well would you look at that, the last Uchiha! Funny, I thought he considered himself an elite, but the sight of us makes him shit himself."

"Not at all, I'm just on my way up to the first exam. It's on the third floor; this is the second," Sasuke turned his head and smirked. "Tell them, Sakura. You have the sharpest eye in the team for genjutsu."

"That's right. They put a genjutsu on the door number to fool us into thinking that this was the right place, but it's not. That room is 201, not 301," the Haruno then proved her claim by dispelling the genjutsu. The other Genin gasped in realisation, Naruto just looked confused.

"So you saw through that... what about this?!" one of the boys charged towards Sasuke and when he was close enough he aimed a roundhouse kick towards his head. Sasuke, seeing the attack coming, also initiated a roundhouse kick in order to block his opponent's, but before they could make contact, the same boy in the jumpsuit suddenly appeared between them, catching the blows with his hands and pushing them both away from each other.

' _Whoa, that guy is almost as fast as Sasuke-kun,_ ' thought Sakura.

"Wasn't it you who said we should keep a low profile so the enemy wouldn't see our skill-set?" said a Hyūga as he and the girl with buns approached the boy in green.

"Yes, but..." the boy in green turned to look at Sakura before walking towards her. When he was just a foot away from her, he introduced himself. "My name is Rock Lee. You are Sakura, yes?"

"Um..." replied Sakura. She tried to make eye-contact with one of her teammates, but both pretended to find something interesting on one of the walls.

Rock Lee gave her a thumbs-up and a wink, which almost made his big bushy eyebrow completely cover his eye. "Please, be my girlfriend! I swear, I will protect you with my life!"

"Yeah... no."

"But... but why?" suddenly, his mood was shot down like it was hunting season.

"You're weird," Sakura sidestepped Lee so she could stand next to her crush. Naruto chuckled and did the same.

"Hey, you," the Hyūga called out to Sasuke. "What's your name?"

"It's only polite to give your name before requesting the name of someone else," Sasuke placed his hands in his pockets while his eyes narrowed at the Genin in front of him.

"You're a rookie, aren't you? How old are you?"

"I'm not obliged to answer that," that just seemed to piss the Hyūga off. The Uchiha, growing bored of this encounter, turned on his heel and continued towards the next set of stairs. "Naruto, Sakura, let's go."

* * *

 _'So this is the Chūnin exam, huh? So far it's just been a complete circus.'_

 **"Don't underestimate this. The Chūnin exams are very challenging, even for the most talented Genin."**

 _'Sure, sure.'_

 **"I'm being serious, Naruto. Watch your back."**

"Hey, you with the attitude!" called someone from above Team 7. The group of Genin had just arrived in a fairly large room with multiple pillars lining one side of the place. Sasuke, Sakura and Naruto looked up at the walkway to see Rock Lee standing there. "I want to fight you. Here and now."

"You want to fight me? Are you serious?" the Uchiha thought the boy was an idiot.

"Yes," Lee jumped down from the walkway, landing in a crouch. "My name is Rock Lee. You said it was polite for a challenger to give his name first," he stood up from his crouch, locking eyes with Sasuke. "Isn't that right, Uchiha Sasuke?"

"So you know who I am."

"I do. I've heard all about the Uchiha clan and how great they are. I want to see for myself if that is true," he positioned himself into a fighting stance, and seeing that, Sasuke followed. "And because... Sakura-san, I love you!" the Haruno cringed and stepped behind Naruto, who just looked extremely bored, clearly wishing she was somewhere, ANYWHERE, other than here. Lee, his cheeks turning red, winked in Sakura's direction (and, unfortunately, Naruto's too).

A small pink heart seemed to materialise from nowhere, heading straight for the two girls. Sakura screamed and jumped to the side while Naruto crouched down. "That was an excellent dodge, Sakura-san. Let's see you avoid these!" suddenly, about a dozen of the pink hearts were sent towards Sakura, who started to panic. The pinkette then began to swing her body around in an attempt to dodge the hearts, which somehow succeeded. When the last one passed her safely, she stopped to catch her breath.

"Keep your creepy little crushes to yourself! I was dodging for my _life_ there!"

"You do not have to be so negative, Sakura-san..." just like before, his mood was shot down.

"You said you wanted to fight, so quit screwing around and let's get on with it!" Sasuke ran towards Lee, who disappeared before the Uchiha could land a hit. Reappearing above Sasuke, he yelled out " **Konoha Reppū**!" and aimed a kick towards the side of Sasuke's head. The Uchiha ducked and Lee missed, but just barely. Landing on one hand, Rock Lee twisted his body around and aimed another kick at the same place.

 _'Damn it, I'm not fast enough!'_ Sasuke shouted internally as Lee broke through his guard and landed a successful attack. The Uchiha grunted as he was sent flying backwards, only being stopped by his back hitting against one of the pillars.

"Sasuke-kun!" cried out Sakura, but fortunately her crush wasn't too hurt.

 _'Holy shit, the teme is getting his ass handed to him. Go Lee, go!'_ Naruto grinned.

 **"Aren't you supposed to support your teammates,** _ **not**_ **cheer on their opponents?"**

 _'Details, details.'_

 _'Just as I thought, he is getting up for more,'_ thought Lee, entering his fighting stance again as Sasuke picked himself up.

"I've been waiting to try this out. Now's a good a time as any," the Uchiha smirked, his eyes changing colour. With a battle cry, Sasuke charged forward again. _'Ninjutsu or genjutsu, I'll be able to see exactly what you're doing!'_

 _'Yes! With his Sharingan, Sasuke-kun can see every move that guy makes. He's unbeatable now!'_ if someone were to look closely, they'd see the pinkette's eyes morph into love hearts.

"Ah!" Sasuke cried out. Sakura was immediately broken out of her love trance at the sight of her crush being kicked into the air. Rock Lee had seemingly come from nowhere. He was able to get past Sasuke's guard once again, even with the younger boy using his clan's famous dōjutsu. Sasuke was knocked down for the second time that day.

 _'Forget Sakura, if Lee manages to bust up Sasuke's body as well as his pride, he can date_ me _!'_ this was, hands down, the best day of Naruto's life.

"I am not using any ninjutsu or genjutsu, so there are no tricks up my sleeve, Uchiha Sasuke. Your eyes may be able to see through those techniques, but taijutsu is a little bit different. It doesn't matter how fast your eyes are, if your body is too slow, then you will not be able to block my attacks," Lee explained while Sasuke glared at him. Wanting to finally end this humiliation, the Uchiha ran towards Lee again, but when he saw the boy move he raised his arms defensively. However it was for nothing.

Rock Lee effortlessly broke Sasuke's barrier and his kick landed perfectly on the bottom of his jaw, launching Sasuke into the air. Lee then seemed to disappear, only to reappear directly below Sasuke in midair. "Now you're finished," the bandages on Lee's arm began to unravel, and Sasuke was powerless to stop Rock Lee's next move. Suddenly, something pierced Lee's bandage and pinned it to the wall. The boy's reaction was instant.

Rock Lee stopped his attack and landed in a crouch in front of... a turtle?! Sakura, however, wasn't paying attention to that. "Sasuke-kun!" she leaped into the air and caught her teammate in her arms, preventing him from having a nasty fall and injuring him further.

"You... were watching this whole time, weren't you?" Lee asked the turtle.

"Of course. That last technique is forbidden and you know that," the turtle said in a rough voice.

 _'What the fuck is happening? Am I dreaming? I am, aren't I?'_ Naruto pinched herself.

 **"No, but I wish you were."**

"A shinobi never reveals his techniques unless it's absolutely necessary. That's one of the basic ninja rules, and yet somehow you've managed to forget that. Are you prepared to accept the punishment for your actions?" the turtle growled at Lee, who nodded his head sadly.

"All right. Come out, Gai-sensei!" suddenly, in a puff of smoke, a larger version of Rock Lee appeared on the turtle's back.

"Heeeey there everybody!" 'Gai-sensei' greeted. Team 7 screamed. "Lee, time for your punishment, you fool!" the man punched Lee in the face, which sent him a few feet into the air. Team 7 screamed louder.

Before Lee could hit the ground, Gai caught him and gently placed him on the ground and then got onto one knee, Lee doing the same. "I'm so sorry, Gai-sensei."

"It's all right Lee, you don't have to say anything more," both of the jumpsuit wearing shinobi began to cry furiously.

 _ **~Sunset no Jutsu~**_

Team 7 screamed loudest.

* * *

"Damn, I never realised there'd be so much competition," Naruto sighed at the room full of Genin from other villages. They all looked to be at least a few years older, and taller, than herself. Also more menacing.

 _'Why do we have, like,_ no _scary ninja in this village at all?'_

 **"Gai's pretty scary."**

 _'Don't make me think about that ever again.'_

"Sasuke-kun!" Ino shouted as she latched onto the boy's arm. "I'm so glad you could make it!"

"Get off of him, Pig!" Sakura waves her gloved fist at her love rival.

"No way, Forehead. Get in line."

"Hey, you two, be quiet. You're drawing attention to us," whispered Sasuke, removing Ino from his arm. The two kunoichi looked around, and indeed almost every other ninja was staring right at them. Sasuke made his usual 'hn' sound and walked away, Sakura all too happy to follow him. The Yamanaka heir sighed and crossed her arms, looking around until she spotted Naruto who was leaning against a wall a small distance away, clearly wanting to avoid any unnecessary attention. Ino made her way over until she was leaning against the wall beside the girl.

"Hey Naruto," Ino smiled at the Uzumaki, but the smaller blonde just gave her a side-glance before looking away, uninterested in any small-talk. Ino, however, was nothing if not persistent. "Are you excited to start the exam? Honestly, I'm not so sure. I mean I'd love to be a Chūnin, but Asuma-sensei made it seem like such a scary process that I'm not sure if I'm ready yet, you know?"

"What do you want?"

"Huh?"

"I said, what do you want? Sakura tried the same thing but I'm telling you, it won't work."

"Naruto, I honestly have no idea what you're talking about."

Naruto pushed herself away from the wall until she was standing directly in front of Ino, arms crossed defensively. "You're trying to be friends with me, aren't you? Why? Is it because I saved your life? Because if so, then forget it. I was just doing what the mission required from me, that's it."

"Yes, I want to be friends with you, but it's not because I feel indebted to you. Well, yeah I'm really grateful for what you did but I don't have any ulterior motive-"

"And I'm supposed to believe that?" the Jinchūriki leaned in closer until her face was only centimetres from Ino's. Although she was a good few inches shorter, Naruto still managed to pull off a pretty intimidating look. "Why should I believe any word that comes out of your mouth? You're disgusting, both you and that 'Forehead'. Do us both a favour and leave me the hell alone, or it's gonna get ugly for you real quick."

Ino frowned, but couldn't stop herself from glancing down at Naruto's lips as she talked. Naruto, of course, didn't miss that brief eye movement and growled before stepping backwards. "Naruto, I-"

"Save it," the Jinchūriki gave the Yamanaka one last scathing look before leaving to go join her teammates. It took Ino a few moments to gather herself, and she did so just in time for her own teammates to make an appearance.

"Hey Ino, what was that about?" Shikamaru asked as Chōji shovelled crisps into his mouth.

"I... have no idea."

* * *

 **"Careful, I smell a snake."**

The Jinchūriki glared at the silver haired Konoha Genin that was currently talking to her teammates and Team 8. She quickly made her way towards them and stood behind Sasuke and Sakura, the former giving her a brief nod in acknowledgement. Team 10 joined them soon afterwards.

"So as I was saying," the Genin nodded towards Naruto and Team 10, "my name is Yakushi Kabuto. You could say I'm a bit of an expert at the Chūnin exams because I've taken them seven times," Team 7, 8 and 10 were shocked to hear that, but they let the guy continue speaking. "If you want, I could help you out a bit with my ninja info cards," Kabuto pulled out a small stack of orange cards.

"Ninja info cards? What do you mean?" asked Sasuke.

"These cards have been chakra encoded with all the information I've gathered on the Chūnin exams over the last four years. I've got over two hundred of them, so I haven't been completely wasting my time. Anything, or any _one_ , in particular you want to know about?"

Sasuke thought about the candidates he's encountered so far, and a few seconds later he came to a decision. "Sabaku no Gaara and Rock Lee."

"Aw, that's no fun. You know their names already. Fine, Let's see what I've got. First, Rock Lee," Kabuto pulled out one of the orange cards and applied some of his chakra to it, revealing the information. "Looks like he's about a year older than you. He's completed eleven C-Rank and twenty D-Rank missions. His sensei is Maito Gai, and in the last twelve months his taijutsu has radically improved. His other skills are almost non-existent. He gathered a lot of attention as a Genin last year, but for some reason he chose not to participate in the exams. His teammates are Hyūga Neji and Tenten.

"Now for Sabaku no Gaara," he put the first card back before pulling out the second, applying some chakra like before to reveal the information. "He's completed about eight C-Ranks and one B-Rank. That's almost unheard of for Genin. There's not much I know about him, beyond sharing a team with his siblings, but there is this: he's come back from every mission without a single scratch on him," Sasuke clenched his fist, angry that there was someone else that could become a challenge for him. Naruto, meanwhile, frowned at the thought. She knew he was a Jinchūriki, so it didn't come as much of a surprise to her that the boy was untouchable, but it still unsettled her.

"Wow, there's a bunch of strong people here, huh?" commented Kiba.

"There is indeed. In the four years I've been doing this, there's never been this many powerful candidates in one exam. We really have our work cut out for us this time."

* * *

 _'Damn it Kakashi, I can't go along with this! They may be your students now but I know these kids, I trained them for years! I don't know what you're trying to prove here, but-!'_

 _'Iruka, please,' Kakashi took the Chūnin's hands in his and lifted them up to his chest. 'Believe me when I tell you that I know what I'm doing. They're strong. Stronger than you think. Naruto... she's come a long way from being the dorky, playful little girl.'_

 _'But not for the right reasons...' Iruka lowered his head and closed his eyes. 'I just keep thinking there was something I could've done to prevent that... that_ bastard _from getting to her. What if I had paid her a visit? Took her to R_ _āmen Ichiraku? Just... anything!'_

 _Kakashi let go of one of Iruka's hands to place his fingers under the scarred man's chin, gently pulling his head up to face him. The Hatake carefully wiped away the man's tears and cupped his cheek. 'Iruka, what happened to her was not your fault. No one could have known what would happen, especially the missing Anbu member that was supposed to protect her. But don't worry, we have the man responsible in the deepest, darkest jail. He will_ never _see the light of day again, do you hear me?'_

 _Iruka took a deep breath and nodded his head, grabbing Kakashi's flak jacket and pulling him in for a hug. 'Kakashi... thank you.'_

 _'Oh Iruka, I wish I could do more for you, but for now my words will have to be enough,'_ Kakashi thought as he stood outside the door to room 301. _'I just pray to whatever Kami is out there; please, protect Naruto.'_

* * *

 **A/N: Boom, there is it, another chapter. I guess I was just really in the writing spirit, so woo.**

 **See? I look at the poll results! There's your Kakashi/Iruka happening. I love it.**

 **Ino's now got her official "fuck you" from Naruto AND a bit of a "damn Naruto you cute" vibe. Nice.**

 **Uh... I can't really think of anything else to say now. There was definitely something because I was kicking myself for not writing it in the last A/N, but I've forgotten again. Whoops.**

 **Anyway, please leave a nice review, maybe suggest a new name for Naruto's dōjutsu and vote on the poll! Thank you!**


	11. The First Exam

_Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto or any of its characters._

"Talking."  
 _'Thinking.'  
_ **"Kyūbi/Jutsu."**

 **Chapter 11: The First Exam**

 **Poof**

"All right you fucking degenerates, shut up and look this way!" yelled a man dressed in a long black trench coat, a high collared grey uniform top and black trousers. His headband was wrapped around his head, concealing the many scars underneath. "My name is Morino Ibiki, I'll be your proctor for the first exam."

 _'Ibiki oversees the first exam? I don't know whether I should be dreading this or jumping for joy,'_ thought Naruto as the doors behind Ibiki were opened by two Chūnin. The Tokubetsu Jōnin stepped aside and held his arm out in a welcoming gesture, but the Uzumaki knew that he wasn't being polite.

The Konoha Rookies and Kabuto made their way towards the door, however before they could enter, a Chūnin standing by the door pulled out a box filled with small paper strips. "Pick one, read the number on it and sit in the corresponding seat," she said.

Once everyone was seated, Ibiki tapped a piece of chalk on the blackboard at the front of the room, getting everyone's attention. "There are a few rules you need to know, and I won't be answering any questions later so for your sake, you better pay attention. Rule one: the results of this written exam are based on a point reduction system. You all start with ten points, and one point will be deducted for each answer you get wrong. Rule two: teams will pass or fail based on the total score of all three members. Rule three: the Chūnin you see around the room are there to watch you carefully for any signs of cheating, and for every attempt they see, they will deduct two points from your team's total score. If you're caught five times, you and your team will be removed from this exam hall before any tests are even marked and scored. One more thing, if any candidate gets a zero and fails the test, then the _entire_ team fails.

"You have one hour to complete nine questions; the tenth and last question will be revealed fifteen minutes before the end. Begin!"

* * *

 _'You have_ got _to be kidding me,'_ thought Naruto as she glared at the test paper in her hands. She had been breaking her brain for the last ten minutes over the first question which was an encryption she had to decode. No matter how many times she tried, she just couldn't see the pattern. Naruto quickly glanced at her pink haired teammate on the other side of the room, who was, of course, quickly scribbling down her answers. The Uzumaki didn't expect anything less. _'Any chance you could-?'_

" **No."**

' _What? Why?'_

" **I'm not going to help you cheat. Look, we both know Sakura is going to ace this, and Sasuke will probably get a decent score as well. Just leave all these questions blank and get the tenth one right, I'm sure the combined score between the three of you will be fine."**

' _I suppose this is my only option.'_

* * *

' _Oh great, she's just sitting there,'_ thought Sasuke, glaring at the back of Naruto's head. _'Come on Naruto, get at least one of them right.'_

Sasuke smirked. _'Funny, I can't even begin to understand any of these problems, never mind Naruto. In fact, this entire test feels off. Why just a two-point penalty for every time you cheat? Surely just once is enough to get disqualified. Unless… the entire point is to cheat?'_ the Uchiha looked around the room at each Chūnin sentinel. _'Yes, of course. They're not testing our knowledge; they're testing our information gathering skills. That'll still be tough if you don't have any way to cheat without getting caught, at least I have my Sharingan. I just hope Naruto and Sakura catch on soon.'_

* * *

Naruto sighed as she began tapping the rubber end of her pencil in the table, earning her a few glares from other Genin but not enough to bother her. The Uzumaki was dying to get to the more excited parts of the exam because she knew that was where she'd do best. The first exam was Sakura's domain.

' _Speaking of Sakura…'_ the Jinchūriki looked over at her teammate just as the Haruno put down her pencil. With five minutes remaining until the last question is revealed, the girl was cutting it close. _'Wow. If it took Sakura that long to finish, I wonder how everyone else is doing.'_

Just as Naruto finished that thought, Sakura's body tensed up, her eyes widening, before she suddenly relaxed. The Uzumaki frowned when Sakura smirked and began reading over her own test paper, like she was trying to memorise the answers. _'Ino?'_ she asked herself before scanning the room until she found the blonde. When she did, her suspicions were confirmed. Team 10's kunoichi was currently slumped over in her seat, her hands in the familiar Yamanaka clan hand-seal.

' _Is she seriously brave enough to risk getting caught and thrown out? Or maybe stupid enough? I wonder if Sasuke noticed… wait just one minute,'_ the Uzumaki's eyes narrowed when she realised that her teammate's eyes were red instead of their usual black. _'That bastard is cheating! I can't believe he'd risk jeopardising our chance at being Chūnin!'_

" **I think the entire point of this test was to cheat. Remember what Ibiki said? You'd lose points if you're** _ **caught**_ **cheating. This test is obviously way too hard for regular people, so the aim is to gather information from someone in the room that has all the answers. Clever move."**

' _Ibiki you son of a bitch. He's always trying to be tricky like that.'_

" **Well if you think about it, he actually did you a favour. Imagine if this was a genuine test of intelligence. You, Uzumaki Naruto, would have to kiss that Chūnin rank goodbye."**

* * *

"Well, with fifteen minutes left and most of the worthless weeded out, it's time for the last question," announced the scarred ninja, gesturing to the many empty seats around the room. "But, before I give you the last question, the rules are going to change a bit. Firstly, you can choose whether you are given the tenth question; it's completely up to you. However, if you choose _not_ to take the tenth question, you will fail, regardless of your answers to the other nine questions. Of course, that also means both your teammates fail with you.

"Secondly, if you do accept the question but answer it incorrectly, you and your team will fail and you'll never be able to take the Chūnin exam ever again."

"What kind of bull is that?! There are plenty of people here who have taken the test before!" exclaimed Kiba from his seat, Akamaru jumping onto the table and barking.

"Well I guess you're just unlucky. I wasn't making the rules before, but I am now. If you're not feeling up to it, then by all means, the door is right there," Ibiki pointed to the door at the back of the room, grinning. "You can just come back and try again next year. Those who don't want to take it, raise your hand."

There were a few moments of silence before the first hand was raised. Naruto watched the boy and his team from Kumogakure leave the room. Eventually, more hands were raised until only half of the total Genin remained, but Ibiki still didn't look pleased. "This is your last chance to turn back now. If you don't leave, your life could change forever. And _not_ in a good way," the torture expert made eye-contact with Naruto and raised his eyebrow, as if he was expecting her to crack under the pressure of the choice.

' _Heh, does this old man really think I'd quit so soon? Try again,'_ Naruto returned Ibiki's look with a grin, which seemed to satisfy him.

' _There's seventy-eight left, which is more than I expected. I suppose this year's batch is either confident or stupid. I wonder which one Naruto is…'_ Ibiki cleared his throat and straightened his posture. "Well then, I guess there's only one thing left for me to tell you… you have all passed the first test!"

"Wait… what?!" came a voice from the back of the room. "What about the tenth question?"

"I just asked you it. Your decision to stay was the answer I was looking for, so congratulations."

"So the other nine questions, they weren't worth anything at all, were they?"

"On the contrary, they're quite important. They were used to test your ability to gather important information without getting caught. It's one of the vital skills necessary to become a successful ninja."

"Oh, well that explains _everything_ ," Temari commented sarcastically from behind Naruto.

Ibiki sighed and shook his head. "Then let me explain. My goal was to test you as a group, not just as individuals, and more importantly how well you function within that group. Your points, and therefore your score, were tied with your teammates because I wanted to see how well you would handle the pressure of your actions affecting others."

"Okay… but I'm still not getting what the tenth question was about."

"As I said before, I was testing you as part of a group. The tenth question forced you to pick one of two choices: choose not to take it, resulting in your whole team failing, or choose to take it and risk your whole team never being able to progress as ninja. These terribly difficult no-win situations are what Chūnin must face every day. For example: you are your squad have been ordered to infiltrate an enemy stronghold and obtain a precious document. You have no idea how many ninjas there are inside or how well they are armed, and you have reason to believe that they are expecting you. You can just as easily turn away from this suicide mission and live to see another day, so do you?"

Suddenly, Ibiki slammed his fist on the wooden desk at the front. "The answer is _no_! There will be many, many missions like this that seem suicidal, but you do not think about that. You think only about the mission objective and get it done, even if it means sacrificing everything. That is what is means to be ninja, to serve your village and protect its people."

 _ **CRASH**_

Naruto threw her arm over her face to protect it from the incoming shards of glass sailing through the air, as did most of the Genin and Chūnin in the room. Ibiki merely closed his eyes and shook his head slowly, like he expected it but was still disappointed.

In the blink of an eye, the dark shape that had dived straight through the classroom window unfurled a large banner, pinning the top two corners to the ceiling with kunai. "Heads up maggots, this is no time to be celebrating! I'll be your next proctor; Mitarashi Anko!" the purple haired woman placed one hand on her hip and used the other to gesture to the banner behind her. It read 'Second Chūnin Exam Proctor: Mitarashi Anko'.

' _If Anko is in charge, then this exam has to be a nightmare. In fact, that's probably exactly what she'll do. She'll put a genjutsu on us all that'll trap us in a never-ending nightmare of our own mind's creation, she's sadistic enough to do it and_ accidentally _forget to pull us out.'_

" **Agreed."**

"Wow Ibiki, you've let seventy-eight of them remain. You must be going soft," as she scanned the faces of the Genin with her eyes, smirking when she spotted the blonde Jinchūriki. "Hell, if _she_ managed to pass then the test _must_ have been easy this year."

Ibiki chuckled when he noticed the Uzumaki glaring at the woman. "Careful Anko, you know how much of an _animal_ she turns into when she's angry," he said, giving Anko a knowing look. The TokubetsuJōnin merely grinned and gently slapped Ibiki's upper arm.

"Ah, she knows I'm only kidding! Anyway, who's ready for the second test?" she asked, but instead of waiting for a response, she made her way to the window she entered through and exclaimed, "Good! Follow me!"

"Anko!" the woman was halfway out the window when Ibiki shouted at her.

"Yes, Ibiki?"

"Don't you think you should give these Genin _at least_ an hour to prepare? After all, you are taking them to _the forest_."

Many of the Genin started thinking aloud, mumbling questions about what ' _the forest_ ' could be. Anko pouted at the scarred man. "Aw, Ibiki, you ruined it!" he gave her a disapproving look, which just made her pout more. "Fine, fine! Okay maggots, you've got thirty minutes to get your shit together. Prepare for the worst!" she shouted, but just as she turned around again to continue out the window, she paused. She gestured for Ibiki to come over to her, and when he did, the two began talking in hushed whispers.

"Psst," Naruto ignored the person behind her making the sound, but groaned when she felt something hard jab into her back. "Psst!"

" _What_?" the Uzumaki turned around in her seat to face the dirty blonde haired Suna kunoichi.

"You know this crazy lady?" Temari asked, spinning the pencil she used to get Naruto's attention in her hand.

"Unfortunately," replied Naruto. "Now can you stop annoying me?"

Temari just smirked, placing her arms flat on the desk and resting her chin against them. "What if I don't want to?"

Naruto grit her teeth and leaned towards Temari. "If this next exam involves fighting, I am going to _kick your ass_."

The older girl moved her own head forward until the two were inches apart. "Haha and then what?" she asked, winking. **[1]**

Before Naruto could reply, she was yanked out of her seat. She let out a yelp from shock, having never even heard her assailant coming up behind her. Even Temari looked surprised.

"All right Uzumaki, time to go!" yelled Anko as she threw Naruto over her shoulder.

"What the hell do you mean?!"

"We're going to the second exam! Everyone else, your team's sensei will point you in the right direction. Meet me there in half an hour!" Anko instructed as she leapt out of the window with Naruto, who was gripping onto Anko's jacket in fear of falling to her death if she didn't.

The remainder of Team 7 could only watch, mouths agape, as their teammate was basically kidnapped right in front of them.

* * *

 _ **Training Ground 44, Half an Hour Later…**_

Sasuke and Sakura, being at the front of the large group of Genin, were among the first to approach the main entrance to the forest. Anko and Naruto were standing by a medium sized wooden booth with two Chūnin sitting behind the counter. Well, Anko was standing normally while Naruto was being forced to stand on the tips of her toes because of a kunai that was pinning her t-shirt to one of the booth's wooden posts. The kunai was buried almost to its handle, clearly too deep for Naruto to have the strength to pull it out from her current position.

When Anko noticed the group of Genin making their way to her, she turned and threw her arms out in a welcoming gesture. "Welcome to Training Ground 44, or as I like to call it, the _Forest of Death_! This is where the second exam will be taking place, but before we begin," Anko pulled out a bundle of paper. "I need you all to sign these. It basically says that I'm not responsible for your deaths or permanent injuries sustained in the forest. You can't take part if you don't sign them," she then passed the bundle to the nearest Genin who took one and then passed the rest to next person.

"So the first thing you need to know is that this exam will test every one of your survival skills. That is, if you have any of course. Second, a basic description of the forest; Training Ground 44 has forty-four locked entrances, including this one. It has rivers, a massive forest – obviously – and at the centre is a locked tower, ten kilometres from each entrance. Lastly, the main goal of this test is to get these scrolls…" the Mitarashi pulled out two scrolls, one white and one black, "by any means necessary," that caught the attention of most of the Genins.

"Uh, what do you mean by that?" asked Ino.

"Taijutsu, ninjutsu, genjutsu et cetera… all of that is permitted. You can even kill your opponents," Anko answered with a grin.

' _We're allowed to kill people?! Shit,'_ Naruto thought as she looked around. Although most were as shocked as she was, there were some that seemed almost excited at the idea of bloodshed, including a group of Sound ninja she noticed at the first exam.

"When you and your team have signed your consent form, take them over to the booth over there," she pointed as the two Chūnin released Naruto before pulling a curtain closed around the booth. "They'll give you either an Earth scroll or a Heaven scroll. There's twenty-six teams, meaning half will have the Earth scroll and the other half will have the Heaven scroll, so it'll be up to you to get the one you don't have from another team and bring them both to the tower. Get the point yet?"

"So by the end of this test, at the very least, half of the teams here will fail," commented Sasuke as Naruto joined him and Sakura, grumbling and rubbing her neck where her collar had been digging in.

"Exactly. Oh, and one more thing, the test has a time limit. You have five days to complete it."

"Five days? What are we supposed to do about food?!" Chōji asked, sweat practically dripping off his brow from anxiety.

"Just look around, the forest has plenty to eat for all of you."

"That's not all though, is it? There are wild beasts and poisonous plants everywhere," Kabuto added as he stepped forward, his team just a few steps behind him.

"Don't forget the days are also getting longer, meaning the nights are getting shorter, giving us less time to sleep and recover. In all those conditions and the fact that there will be enemies all around us, I guarantee the number of people that will pass this will be a lot less than half," Sasuke said, looking around as the fact that he would soon be against these ninjas finally set in.

"That's the most likely outcome, yes. Just like you can't quit halfway through a battle, you can't quit this test before the five days are up. Also, neither myself nor any of the other examiners are going to jump in and save your ass if you get into trouble. As soon as you're in there, you must get to the tower with both scrolls, or wait until time is up. However, there are ways to get disqualified during the exam. One, if one or more of your teammates dies or becomes incapacitated and therefore cannot get to the tower. Two, if you open either one of the scrolls before you reach the tower. Three, if I catch any of you crying like a little baby, _I'll kill you myself_. Got it? Good. When you get your scroll, pick a gate and wait for it to open.

"I'm gonna be nice and give you a little piece of advice: try not to die."

* * *

 **A/N: Sorry it took so long for me to upload, but I just sat my end of year exams. Like, the final ones that will basically decide my future, so yeah, I didn't have any time to write. Thankfully, my exam leave doesn't end until about two weeks from now, so hopefully I'll get another chapter out in that time. If not, then summer starts at the end of June and I'll have six weeks to write then.**

 **[1] – I hope at least some of you get that reference lmao.**


	12. The Second Exam, Part One

_Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto or any of its characters_

"Talking."  
' _Thinking.'  
_ _Flashback  
_ " **Kyūbi/Jutsu** "

 **Chapter 12: The Second Exam, Part One**

"Oh you can _not_ be serious. We're barely been out here for _five minutes_ and you're already eating? Come on, Chōji, we have a job to do," Ino scolded her teammate who had decided to stop so he could snack on his favourite crisps. The blonde placed her hands on her hips and huffed, looking at Shikamaru for support.

"Yeah, Ino's right. We can't stop for food, especially when we're still out in the open like this. We've got to find a team weak enough to beat and hope they have the scroll we're looking for," said Shikamaru.

"Oh yeah? And what team would that be? From what I could see, everyone else was either tough looking or super scary," commented Chōji before he shoved another handful of the potato snacks in his mouth.

"Naruto's team of course."

"What?! Sasuke-kun isn't weak!" protested Ino as she crossed her arms and stamped her foot.

Shikamaru sighed. "Listen, it's simple; we split them up and take them on one at a time. Sakura is easy enough, so we would leave her until we've taken out Sasuke and Naruto. Sasuke may be strong, but he can't take all three of us on his own," when he received no further input from either of his teammates, he nodded. "Okay good, at least we have a plan, now we just have to…" suddenly, a rustle from above him made him stop.

Quickly, he grabbed Chōji's scarf and Ino's wrist before pulling them down into a bush with him. Both were smart enough not to make any noise when he pushed them both into a laying down position.

Through a small gap in the bottom of the bush, the Nara saw three pairs of feet clad in black ninja shoes. After a few moments, clearly satisfied that there wasn't anyone nearby, the enemy ninja team left the area, allowing Team 10 to stand back up.

"See, Chōji? This is what happens when stay in one spot for too long. We have to keep moving!" said Ino, Shikamaru nodding in agreement. With a quiet grumble of displeasure, the Akimichi reluctantly followed the pair deeper into the forest.

* * *

Sakura winced when a piercing scream reached her ears, followed by two more from two different people. The sources came from somewhere west of Team 7's location, the Haruno estimated them to be approximately one kilometre away.

"I guess that's one team down," commented Sasuke. The trio had decided to stop briefly to discuss battle strategy. "I think I should be the one to carry the scroll," he said, holding out their white one.

Naruto scoffed before swiping the item from him. "You have the whole dark, emo and mysterious look that screams 'look at me, I'm the strongest in my team!' so everyone else will be expecting you to have it. I should take it."

The Uchiha glared at the blonde and snatched the scroll back from her. "That trick is way too obvious. At first they'll expect me to have it, but then they'll realise that we were expecting them to expect that, so they'll go for the next likely person and that'll be you!"

Naruto grabbed the scroll and pulled it towards her, but Sasuke kept a firm hold on it and pulled it back. Both were doing their best to take the scroll from the other, but neither were succeeding. "But maybe they'll expect us to expect them to expect you to have it, then expect us to expect that, and therefore go for you!"

"Oh enough already!" Sakura shouted, grabbing the scroll with both hands and yanking it away from them. "Enough with the 'expect this, expect that'. You've said that damn word so many times I feel like it isn't even real anymore. You're both right in thinking that the enemy teams expect one of you to have it, that's why _I_ should take it," as Sasuke and Naruto opened their mouths to protest, Sakura held up her hand. "No, this is clearly the best course of action. While they'll be distracted by you two, they'd never expect- I mean, _anticipate_ me to have it. Right?"

Her two teammates paused for a few moments to think about it, looked at each other, and then shrugged. "It… actually makes sense," said Sasuke, reluctantly.

"Yeah, I suppose. All right then Sakura, you've got scroll duty," Naruto said as the pink haired girl slipped the Heaven scroll into the pouch at her lower back. "Now if you'll excuse me," Naruto made her way over to the nearest tree and stepped behind it so she could do her 'business' in private.

Sakura nodded and turned to Sasuke. "So, got any plans for us to get an Earth scroll?"

"Remember the map the mad woman pinned to the main entrance? The biggest river ran straight through the tower. I say we find that river and make our way along to the tower. We're bound to find someone getting water from there on the way, and if that doesn't work, set a trap near the entrance to the tower," Sasuke finished, drawing a diagram in the dirt with a stick to illustrate his ideas.

Sakura looked over the boy's shoulder at the diagram, admiring how it was almost an exact replica of the map shown to them. Just as she was about to voice her opinion, she heard a rustle coming from the tree Naruto went to, shortly followed by the sound of something hitting flesh and then a groan. "Naruto?" she called out, and as she was going to go investigate, Sasuke stood up and held his arm out in front of her, a kunai in his other hand.

There was another rustle before a body was tossed out in front of them, hands tied behind their back with rope made from what looked like plants in the forest. Naruto came out from behind the tree a second later, rubbing a bruise on her neck. "Bastard tried to sneak up on me from behind while I was peeing. Son of a bitch," she said, kicking the ninja in the side. He was wearing a beige jumpsuit tied together at the front in a series of crosses, a gasmask on the lower half of his face, an Amegakure headband on his forehead and an eye-mask with blood soaking through on the right side.

Sasuke grabbed the top of the ninjas jumpsuit and pulled him up until he could look Sasuke in the eyes. Naruto stayed behind him to make sure he wasn't going to try and remove the rope binding his hands together.

"So, you thought you could take us on by yourself and steal our scroll, huh? Pretty stupid if you ask me, just one of us was able to take you out. Now all you've managed to do is leave the rest of your team with a disadvantage, and if they can't find you, they can't progress onto the next test," Sasuke said before gesturing to the ninja's pouches with his head. Sakura approached him and began to search them, but all she managed to find were some shuriken and a couple of exploding tags. She took them anyway. He wasn't going to be needing them.

The Uchiha threw the Ame ninja to the ground and pulled out some wire from his pouch. Naruto, realising what he was wanted to do, created a couple of shadow clones. The clones carried the ninja up the nearest tree, and despite his persistent struggling, and managed to get him to a high enough branch. Sasuke followed and used his wire to tie the ninja's feet together, tying the other end to the branch.

"Now if I were you, I'd stay quiet. Trust me when I say you really don't want to attract anyone here. At least if one of the beasts find you, they'll kill you fast. If someone from another village finds you, I can't guarantee they'd give you a swift death," one of the clones warned the Ame ninja, smirking when they saw him tense up involuntarily at the thought.

Sasuke then crouched down next to him and pulled out a kunai. "Since I'm feeling nice, I'll give you a choice. If you tell me what scroll your teammates have and where they're likely to be, I'll leave this kunai here for you if you manage to escape. At least then you'd have a chance at defending yourself."

The Ame ninja glared at the Uchiha, but he knew that he was almost completely helpless without some kind of weapon. "My team has a Heaven scroll, useless to you. If they haven't found an Earth scroll by the end of the third day, they'd go to the tower and cast a genjutsu there that would trap its victims in a never-ending circle until they tired themselves out. Then they'd attack."

Sasuke nodded, knowing that there was no reason for him to lie about the scroll and the plan his teammates had were too detailed for him to have just made up on the spot. True to his word, Sasuke stabbed the kunai into the branch before kicking the ninja off, letting him dangle from the wire.

Sakura, although disliking the method, knew that it had to be done. They couldn't risk him reporting back to his teammates, and this way the likelihood of them passing this test dramatically decreased, therefore eliminating the team. After dispelling the clones, Naruto and Sasuke returned to Sakura before leaving the area, hoping to come across one of the rivers, which, according to the map, combine with each other at one point to form one big river.

Just as Team 7 left the small clearing, Sakura noticed the bruise on Naruto's neck. "Naruto, wait!" Sakura said. Both Naruto and Sasuke stopped walking to turn and look at Sakura, who was rummaging around in the pouch on her hip.

"What?" asked Naruto impatiently. It didn't take much effort to bring the Ame ninja down, so she was itching for another fight. She didn't want to stop unless it was absolutely necessary.

Finally, Sakura pulled out a small, circular plastic container. Once she unscrewed the cap, the Haruno pulled one of her gloves off with her teeth and dipped her now uncovered finger into the cap, pulling it out to reveal a layer of pale green cream. "Stay still," she instructed to the Uzumaki before rubbing the cream onto the bruise. At first Naruto flinched, but not because she felt any pain. She wasn't sure if she should be comfortable with Sakura this close to her or not. Yes, she was her teammate and therefore she trusts her to have her back in a fight, but any other time? Not likely.

"What you're doing is completely useless. It's just a bruise I got from that asshole grabbing me, it doesn't even hurt that much," Naruto said, trying to shrug Sakura off her.

"I saw you wince when you turn your head a certain way. I don't want to risk it distracting you during a fight."

"Jeez Sakura, I'm not a five-year-old. I can deal with a tiny bit of pain. Come on, we shouldn't waste any more time," Naruto turned away from the taller girl and ran up the closest tree. Sasuke looked at Sakura, waiting for her to finish putting the cream away before joining Naruto. Sakura, feeling stupid for being so concerned about something so insignificant, but also annoyed at her teammate for not letting her help, sighed before following the two.

* * *

 _ **One Hour Later…**_

"It's gonna get dark soon, we soon make camp somewhere nearby," said Sasuke. For the last hour, the trio had been wandering through the forest, trying to find a river, but so far they'd had no such luck. "It's not safe to keep moving at night. Who knows what kind of nocturnal creatures there are in this place."

The other two agreed, but before they could reply, they heard what sounded like thunder. Suddenly, a huge and powerful gust of wind came from behind a group of trees a small distance away from them. It was strong enough to rip smaller branches from the trees, and it was only getting stronger. The wind, which was obviously caused by a jutsu, began to pick up dirt, eventually creating a dust cloud. Sasuke used this to his advantage by diving under a nearby bush to hide himself from the enemy. When the dust cleared, he saw no sign of Sakura or Naruto.

When the dust cloud cleared, Sasuke looked to his left where he saw three ninja from Kusagakure. All three were wearing straw hats, but the one in the middle was the tallest and the only one with long black hair. He was clearly the one to use the jutsu. "All right, fan out and keep watch. I'll handle this," the middle one said, the apparent designated leader of the team.

' _Damn it,'_ Sasuke thought before crawling backwards until he could stand up without being seen. When he turned around, he almost jumped in the air from shock. Somehow, Sakura had snuck up behind him without him even noticing. _'If she had been an enemy, I'd be dead by now…'_

"Sasuke-kun!" Sakura loudly whispered, and Sasuke quickly held a finger to his lips. Sakura's eyes widened as she held one hand to her mouth, realising her mistake. Thankfully, the nearby Grass ninja didn't seem to hear her.

One moment later, Naruto came out from one of the bushes. Although some bits of her clothing were torn from twigs and branches ripping into the material, she looked otherwise unscathed. "Hey Sasuke, Sakura. You guys okay?" she asked.

Sasuke narrowed his eyes at the question, as did Sakura. "Yeah, we're fine. You okay, Naruto-chan?" asked the Haruno. Sasuke twirled a kunai in his hand.

"I'm good," 'Naruto' replied. The next thing she knew, a kunai was sailing towards her face. 'Naruto' dived to the side, just narrowly dodging the weapon that would have killed it.

"What the hell is wrong with you? You could have killed me!" she shouted before standing back up.

"Naruto stopped calling me 'Sakura-chan' about a year ago. Who are you?!" Sakura demanded, pulling her gloves tighter on her hands.

"Heh, I take it you're the clever one then," 'Naruto' said before she was consumed by smoke. When the smoke cleared a second later, standing in Naruto's place was the long haired Kusa ninja. "This is going to be… _very_ entertaining," he said, taking his hat off and licking it with it abnormally long tongue.

"Where's Naruto? What have you done with her?" demanded Sakura.

"I've sent one of my pets to keep her company, but you shouldn't be worrying about her. Right now, you should be worrying about yourselves."

* * *

 _ **Elsewhere in the Forest…**_

' _Fuck, my head…'_

" **Don't be such a baby, it's only a bump."**

' _Sure doesn't feel like one,'_ Naruto thought as she stood up. The gust of air had sent her flying back who knows how far, but since she couldn't see or hear her teammates, she guessed it was quite far.

"When did it get so dark?" she wondered out loud, but when she looked up, she realised that the day hadn't progressed into night just yet and she was just inside a very, very big shadow. "Holy _shit_!" she shouted when she noticed the _enormous_ snake. Its body was easily at least thirty feet long and five feet wide.

" **Naruto, I know what that is. It is** _ **not**_ **a normal snake-"**

' _CLEARLY!'_

" **No, I mean it's a summon. Someone with a snake contract summoned it here."**

' _You mean like Anko's contract?'_

" **I'm pretty sure it's the same exact one, which means there can only be one likely suspect here, and it isn't Anko."**

' _Orochimaru…'_

Suddenly, the summoned snake opened its mouth wide, revealing its massive fangs that could pierce Naruto's body at one end and come out the other. It then dived towards her head-first, but missed when she ran up the tree behind her. The snake crashed into the base of the tree, almost knocking Naruto off it. The snake, knowing that what it just did could work to its advantage, moved back before diving in again, except this time it purposefully crashed into the tree. The Uzumaki lost her grip and fell, but instead of landing on the ground, the snake positioned itself under her and swallowed her whole.

* * *

Sakura gasped at the sight of the Earth scrolling being pulled from the Grass ninja's pouch. Said ninja noticed this and laughed mockingly. "You want to get your hands on this earth scroll, don't you? Well then," he said, lifting the black scroll above his head. Opening his mouth, his tongue reached out and grabbed the scroll, and to the disgust of the other two Genin there, his tongue pulled the object into his mouth. The Kusa ninja then swallowed it and grinned at Sasuke and Sakura's horrified expressions "… come and get it."

All of a sudden, neither of the two Genins could move. It was like a force had taken control of their minds and paralysed them with fear. The only image they could see was blood, _their own blood_ , splattering across the dirt beneath their feet. Their heads were thrown back from the force of a kunai implanting itself into their foreheads, or at least, that's what it felt like. At first, Sasuke thought the man had put them into an extremely powerful genjutsu, but then he released these illusions and phantom pains were caused by the ninja's K.I alone. When he looked into his eyes, he could see his own death.

"S-Sakura?" he asked, slowly turning his head to look at his teammate, but she was just as affected as he was, if not more so. She was shaking and appeared to be on the brink of tears.

' _Come on Sasuke, move. Move!'_ he commanded himself. Eventually he was able to reach down to his leg pouch and grab a kunai.

"That's more like it, but I'm still disappointed. I honestly expected more of a challenge, but don't worry, I'll make it quick," he said as he pulled out two of his own kunai. "But you already know that, don't you?" he asked before throwing both the kunai towards Sasuke and Sakura.

' _An Uchiha isn't beat like this! MOVE!'_

* * *

"Oh for the love of… spit me out you freak!" yelled Naruto from inside the snake. The blonde was being squished by the snake's insides and covered in its digestive juices, but it would still take a good few minutes for her to dissolve. In order to prevent that from happening, she had summoned her katana, dreading the amount of cleaning she was going to have to do later (before the Chūnin exams started, she had discovered that when she summoned a weapon, it returned in the same state it was in before it last disappeared). However, she simply couldn't penetrate the snake's body with the blade. She just wasn't strong enough.

" **You need my help, don't you?"** the Kyūbi asked.

' _How can you help me, Kurama?'_

" **Remember those times you've lost control? Your eyes go red, your hair goes wild, your canines and nails sharpen, the surrounding skin of your eyes go black and you're surrounded by a red chakra cloak?"**

' _Not only that, I'm also faster and stronger. Yeah, I haven't forgotten.'_

" **If you don't fight it, I can do that to you on varying levels. For example, right now I can lend you enough of my power so you can get out of here. The only side effect would be your normal eye turning completing red and your pupil changing. You also might get a bit… eh, 'mean' I think would be the most appropriate word."**

' _Sounds good enough to me. Do it,'_ Naruto closed her eyes, and almost instantly she felt the monstrous chakra flow through her body, mingling with her own. This was a foreign experience for her, because usually when this happens she's angry and out of control, so the red chakra takes over. This time, she's working with the Kyūbi, so the two chakra sources work in unison instead of one being dominant.

' _All right, let's do this,'_ when Naruto opened her eyes, her normally blue one was now red with the outer ring and circles from her dōjutsu remaining, and the pupil was now long and sharp. With a yell, Naruto swung the sword up and attempted to stab the snake again, but this time it worked. The sword pierced the snake's body, which made it hiss and thrash around, but Naruto wasn't done. Her sword disappeared and was instead replaced with a scythe **[1]** that cut the monster snake open even further. Before it could react to that, Naruto created two shadow clones which helped her pull herself out of the wound. Just as she was about to be completely free of the snake, it disappeared in a puff of smoke. The Uzumaki landed on her feet and looked around for the snake, but it was nowhere to be seen. All that remained of it was the blood on the ground and the juices that covered Naruto.

' _Where the hell did it go? Did it unsummon itself?'_

" **Yeah, they can do that if they're too injured. You should probably hurry and get back to your team, they're definitely gonna need your help."**

' _Will do… right after I clean myself up a bit.'_

* * *

The Kusagakure ninja looked down at the small blood stain with a small smile on his face. Sasuke had stabbed himself in the leg with his kunai in order to distract himself from the fear he felt long enough to grab Sakura and get away. The solution was only temporary though, and both the Genins and their enemy knew that.

Meanwhile, Sakura was tending to the Uchiha's injury with the same green cream she used on Naruto earlier that day. It wouldn't do much in terms of the actual healing process, but it would slightly numb the area around it, reducing the pain Sasuke would feel.

Sasuke peeked around the trunk of the tree he and the Haruno were currently using to hide from the ninja. He knew the two of them would have to keep moving if they wanted to stay away from the man, but he needed to make sure it was safe to do so. "WATCH OUT!" he heard Sakura yell before he felt himself being lifted and thrown further along the branch they were standing on. When he turned to see why his teammate had done that, he saw the jaws of an extremely large snake wrap around the area of the branch he was at. The snake wasted no time and started to tear the branch from the tree, so the Uchiha grabbed Sakura's wrist and jumped to another tree with her just as the makeshift platform fell.

The snake curled its body around the same tree and slithered up higher. Sasuke shouted at Sakura to split up so it would only be able to follow one of them. The snake chose Sasuke.

It came for him while he was still in the air from jumping, so the raven-haired boy grabbed a handful of shuriken from his pouch and threw them at the reptile, knocking it back. Luckily for him, the snake landed on the broken end of the branch, the wood piercing its neck deeply enough to instantly kill it, however just then cracks began to appear a bit further down its body.

Sasuke stared in shock as the ninja broken through the skin of the snake, grinning and swiping at his lips with his tongue. "Don't worry, it's only natural for you to want to have your guard up at all times. That's what happens when you're being hunted by something bigger, better, faster and stronger than you. I am the predator and you are my _prey_!" he exclaimed before his body elongated to a shape just like the one belonging to the creature he just came from. The Kusa ninja made his way up the tree Sasuke landed on faster than the boy could see, however just before the man reached him, he had to stop to prevent himself from being impaled by the shuriken and kunai that suddenly became embedded in the bark.

"Get away from Sasuke-kun!" shouted Sakura who stood on a branch below the two. She was still sweating and shaking from fear, but now she also had a determined gleam in her eyes.

"Oh? It looks like your girlfriend is braver than you are, Sasuke. Does that not hurt your famous Uchiha pride?" he mocked with a laugh.

The Uchiha grit his teeth. It was true, at this point Sakura was braver than he was, but this fear also allowed him to make the safe decision. "Okay, you can have it!" Sasuke said, which caught the attention of both Sakura and the Kusa ninja. "The scroll. You want it, right?" he asked as he pulled out the white scroll. Sakura's hands immediately went to her pouch where she stored it, but found it empty.

' _When did he…?'_ she asked herself. _'It must have been when I was treating his wound. I think at some point I turned away for a few seconds. I should've noticed…'_

"Sometimes when prey realises that it cannot escape from danger, it tries to distract the predator with something more… _tempting_. A wise choice," the Kusa ninja said as he held out his hand. Sasuke tossed the scroll to the ninja, but just as it left his hand, a blur landed in front of him and caught it. Before either Sasuke or the Kusa ninja could react, the blur threw a punch at the Uchiha. Sasuke grunted as he was sent back from the force of the punch landing on his cheek, but managed to flip backwards and onto his feet before he fell on his ass.

"Naruto?! What are you doing?!" he demanded, rubbing the area the blonde's fist struck. "You have no idea what's going on here. Give me back the scroll!"

"What am I doing? The real question is what the hell are _you_ doing?! When did Uchiha Sasuke become a coward? When did he become the guy that just gives up when things get tough? Did the first exam mean _anything_ to you?" the Uzumaki shouted, gripping the scroll in her hand so tight she thought she might accidentally break it. "Come on Sasuke, even you're better than that. Snap out of it and fight back!"

"What an inspiring speech," commented the enemy ninja, uncurling his body from around the tree and standing up normally on the branch. "No matter, I can simply kill you all and take the scroll myself," he said, rolling up his sleeve to reveal a black tattoo. Biting his thumb hard enough to make it bleed, he then swiped it down the tattoo, leaving a trail of blood.

' _Oh no you don't!'_ thought Naruto as she activated her dōjutsu and summoned a fūma shuriken before throwing it towards the ninja. It was black all around except for the edges of the four blades, which were a dull silver. The Kusa ninja hesitated just a moment, his eyes widening and his mouth opening just slightly, but continued with the summoning jutsu. " **Kushiyose no Jutsu**."

Suddenly, the branch underneath Naruto and the Kusa ninja broken apart and the debris was thrown aside by the increase in wind activity. Naruto, too, was thrown aside, her back hitting against another tree and her weapon disappearing. She quickly used her chakra to stick her hands and feet to the tree, preventing herself from falling to her death.

The Kusa ninja laughed from atop the same kind of snake Naruto burst out of earlier, except this one was even bigger. The Uzumaki glared at the man, summoning her katana in preparation for the inevitable fight.

' _This girl, the Jinchūriki I've heard about, it seems she's also in possession of the long-lost dōjutsu of the Uzumaki clan. Well, this changes my plans considerably. And the look she's giving me, reminds me of Anko… I wonder if she's figured out my identity. That would make this fight much, much more interesting…'_

* * *

 **A/N: Honestly, I was tempted to keep writing but I've hit just over 4700 words so I'll leave it here. There will be a real fight in the next chapter, and I hope you're all looking forward to it since we haven't actually seen one in a while.**

 **[1] I didn't leave a description for the scythe simply because I didn't know how to (sorry! I'm awful at describing objects) so I found one online that was almost identical to the one I had in mind. Just replace the colours red accents in the blade with black, the bottom half still being silver (sense a pattern yet?). Unfortunately I can't have a link here, but if you just type in "naruto fanon (dot com) (forward slash) wiki (forward slash) Scythe" you should be able to find it, just replace the brackets with the real things and remove the spaces.**

 **I finally remembered what I was going to leave in the author's notes a few chapters ago. It was a few songs I've listened to that helped me get in the mood to write MtHtS. Dunno if any of you are interested, but I'll leave them here anyway:**

 _ **Point of No Return**_ **by Starset – specifically about Naruto's thoughts/feelings towards Sakura and Ino right now. Even if you don't wanna listen to it cause you don't care about the parallels (really though, the lyrics match the Naru/Saku/Ino in MtHtS almost perfectly), I still recommend it cause it is a good song.**

 _ **I'm Alive**_ **by Shinedown – the song is a bit too literal, but if you think about it as Naruto's dark side speaking to her (well, his) canon personality. It's like the darkness is telling her that she needs it to live and 'get outta here' (the village), cause it will make her stronger.**

 _ **Stumbling In Your Footsteps**_ **by Get Scared (nightcore version is better in my opinion) – an in-depth analysis of the lyrics being applied to my fic would unfortunately spoil future events, but it is about Naru/Saku/Ino again, this time with the person(s) the lyrics being aimed at alternating at different parts (Naruto vs Sakura/Ino).**

 _ **Stay This Way**_ **by From Ashes To New – again, and in-depth analysis would spoil future events but just know that it's about the relationship between Naruto and Sasuke.**

 **If you think listening to any of the above songs might spoil the plot for you, then don't listen to them. Except for the first one, nothing in there that can spoil what I've already implied multiple times before. Or the second one, because there's nothing about plot in there, just one side of a person talking to the other.**

 **One last thing! You might remember me mentioning my thoughts on changing Naruto's dōjutsu name. I decided that it sounded off and not like a dōjutsu at all, so I've been thinking of possible names for it. I noticed that a lot of things in canon have been named after Japanese deities (Amaterasu, Tsukuyomi etc…) so I searched for other deities and found one named Futsunushi. Doesn't sound as cool as Amaterasu, but Futsunushi is referred to as a god of swords and as a god of martial arts. I thought that fit the Uzumaki dōjutsu well. If I don't think of something else or if someone else gives me a better suggestion (hint hint, wink wink) then I'll go back to previous chapters and replace the name of the dōjutsu with Futsunushi.**


	13. The Second Exam, Part Two

_Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto or any of its characters  
_ ' _Thinking.'  
_ "Talking."  
" **Kyūbi/Jutsu**."

 **Chapter 13: The Second Exam, Part Two**

The Uzumaki barely had enough time to blink before the creature's tail slammed into the branch she was occupying, sending her high into the air before she collided with another tree. "Naruto!" shouted Sasuke as his teammate began her descent with nothing to stop her fall.

"No more playing, just finish her," the Kusa ninja said to his 'pet'. The snake's tongue slipped out of its mouth, ready to catch the falling blonde and swallow her whole, when suddenly the falling kunoichi twisted her body so she was facing the snake. Before the snake could react, the katana in the Uzumaki's hands sliced cleanly through its tongue. The Kusa ninja quickly applied chakra to his feet to prevent himself from falling off the summon as it reared its head from the pain. The blonde then used a shadow clone to jump to the safety of one of the nearby trees.

Naruto ran up the same tree until she was at the same level as the snake's head before launching herself towards it again. The Kusa ninja looked up just as his summon moved out of the way to dodge the Genin, however before it did he managed to get a good look at the girl.

' _Her eye… this power I suddenly feel… is the Kyūbi taking over? No, she's in far too much control of herself for that to be true,'_ he thought as the blonde narrowly missed him.

With a battle-cry, the Uzumaki came for the Kusa ninja once again, but this time he was ready for her. Holding out his hand, he blew a stream of fire at the blonde which fortunately too fast for her to dodge. Creating a shadow clone at the last minute, Naruto was able to avoid most of the damage, but the force of it knocked her back. She fell until her back hit one of the branches lower down the tree. "Well then, now that _that_ is over, let's see what you can do, Sasuke," the Kusa ninja grinned as the summoned snake shot towards the Uchiha who was paralysed from fear.

"Get away from him!" the Haruno shouted, leaping towards the snake and pulling back her fist. When she made contact, the snake's head was sent crashing into an adjacent tree, almost bringing it down on top of the summon.

' _Tsunade?!'_ for a second, the Kusa ninja could've sworn it was the female Sannin who had just stopped him. Realising that the pink-themed member of Team 7 could actually be a threat to him, the Kusa ninja used his abnormally long tongue to latch onto Sakura's ankles as she continued her descent and pulled her towards him. When she was in range, he grabbed the front of her top roughly and retracted his tongue. "You've become a pest," he said, pulling out a kunai, but before he could slit the girl's throat, a clawed hand wrapped around his wrist like a vice.

The Kusa ninja stepped back in shock, but he was unable to move his arm at all, despite being a fully-grown ninja and the one holding him was merely a young girl. _'What?! I didn't hear her at all, and this monstrous strength… could this girl possess more of the Kyūbi's power than I initially thought?'_

" **Let. Go** ," the Uzumaki growled, tightening her grip so much that any more pressure and the Kusa ninja's wrist would snap like a twig.

"As you wish," the enemy ninja replied, tossing the pink haired girl away. Without blinking, Naruto created a shadow clone which jumped after the other girl, grabbing her and flipping them around so when they landed on the branch below, the clone would take the damage and the Haruno wouldn't sustain any injuries.

The Uzumaki swung her other fist towards the Kusa ninja's face, but he was easily able to dodge it before using his free hand to attack some pressure points on the arm that was sailing past his face. Naruto hissed and pulled back, gripping the stinging limb, however seconds later she realised that was only a distraction, but she was too late to react to the kick to her abdomen that sent her falling down the snake's back.

The blonde desperately tried to steady herself, but as soon as she got to her feet, the Kusa ninja was already upon her, attacking her all over her body with swift palm and heel strikes until she was at the tip of the snake's tail. Faster than she could blink, the colossal snake threw her a few feet in the air, then smacked her with its full strength away from it.

Before she hit a tree once again, her dark-haired teammate was able to catch her and stop her momentum, landing on a tree branch and placing her down on her feet.

"Naruto… you shouldn't even be moving right now," he said as he looked her up and down, checking for any serious injuries, shocked to find that the worse he could see were bruises.

"Yeah, let's just say I can be a bit more durable at times."

"But… your eye- "

"Look out!" the Uchiha was interrupted by his other female teammate, who was below them and waving her arm towards the snake and the one that summoned it. Naruto and Sasuke both ran up the trunk of the tree, narrowly dodging the snake's head that came crashing into the branch they were standing on moments ago.

"I've had enough of this. I've seen what I came here to see, and Sasuke, I am _very_ disappointed. I was hoping you were going to display your 'elite skill'. You are an Uchiha, correct? What a shame. Your ferocious teammate, however…" the enemy ninja licked his lips.

"What the hell are you talking about? What do you want from me?!" Sasuke yelled, already going through long-ago memorised hand-seals.

"Currently? Nothing. Minutes ago? Everything. I wanted to give you a power so great, you wouldn't have to worry about your traitorous brother, but you are unworthy. My power is a gift only given to those that possess enough strength to wield it, and you Sasuke, are not one of those people."

"You leave him out of this! **Katon: Gōkakyū no Jutsu**!" a stream of fire left the Uchiha's lips, forming a giant ball as it neared the Kusa ninja. The enemy ninja merely smirked before going through a few hand-seals of his own. Suddenly, the same wind jutsu that separated Team 7 reappeared, dispersing the fire jutsu. Fortunately for Team 7, all three members were quick enough to dive behind some cover until the jutsu disappeared.

Naruto growled as she was forced to close her eye so she wouldn't be blinded by debris flying past her. As the wind died down, she peeked out from behind the tree, just in time to see the face of the Kusa ninja's snake. Before she could get away, the Kusa ninja's long tongue wrapped itself around her waist and lifted her into the air.

The Uzumaki groaned as she was thrown onto the snake's head, the Kusa ninja's foot slamming down onto her back so she wouldn't be able to get up. "Naruto!" the Uzumaki heard Sakura yell as a red and pink blur appeared next to her.

The Haruno attempted to knock the enemy ninja off her teammate using her strength, but he was far too quick for the inexperienced Genin. Sakura felt a sharp pain against her face as she was backhanded off the snake's head, but instead of the Kusa ninja allowing her to fall, she was caught by the snake's tail which wrapped itself around her body. No matter how hard she struggled, the creature's hold on her remained tight.

"Sasuke! Do something!" Sakura shouted at her male teammate, whose anger-fuelled energy had worn off.

The Uchiha gulped, his knees beginning to shake again. The feeling of overwhelming dread and the inevitable defeat returned his body in full, seeping into every pore.

"Poor, poor little Uchiha child. You just want it all to stop, don't you?" taunted the Kusa ninja.

' _I… I do…'_

"You don't want to die like your parents did. You don't want to suffer at the hands of another. You don't want your blood to stain this forest… right?"

' _That's right… I don't want to die…'_

"Then don't fight me. Just sit there and wait for it all to stop," the Kusa ninja smirked as Sasuke fell to his knees, his mouth and eyes wide open like he was struggling to breath.

' _I don't want to die… I don't want to die… I don't want to die…'_ finally, the Uchiha collapsed onto his side, knocked unconscious by the Kusa ninja's raw K.I.

"Such a waste, truly. I do hope you turn out to be a better investment, Naruto-chan," the Kusa ninja said, his neck extended abnormally, just like a snake's body. Sakura could only watch, helpless, as her teammate was bitten in the neck by the ninja.

' _Naruto!'_ Sakura screamed internally as the blonde cried out. _'Damn it, damn it, damn it! Why her?!'_

The Jinchūriki felt like her blood was on fire, and no matter how hard she tried, she couldn't connect her mind with the Kyūbi. In fact, it felt like the beast wasn't there _at all_. For the first time, in a long time, Naruto felt truly alone.

* * *

 _ **With Team 10…**_

"Ino, watch it!" Shikamaru grabbed his teammate by her collar and pulled her towards him, just a large log came crashing down where she once stood.

"Oh shit, thanks Shikamaru," Ino said, dusting the debris from the fallen log off her clothes.

"Yeah don't mention it, just try to pay more attention. This forest is littered with traps made by the competition."

"Why do they bother though? I mean, why leave these traps behind and risk some other team coming along and taking our scrolls from our bodies?" Ino asked, ignoring Chōji's audible gulp at the mention of 'our bodies'.

"To get rid of us, obviously. The Genin that laid traps just to leave them behind must already have both scrolls, so the purpose of this," he gestured to the fallen log, "is just to kill."

"So, that crazy lady really wasn't kidding, h-huh?" Chōji asked, his voice trembling near the end.

"Nope," Ino replied, popping the 'P'. Suddenly, a huge gust of wind came towards Team 10, nearly knocking them off their feet. Fortunately, it stopped a few seconds later. "What was that?!"

"Some kind of jutsu, I guess. Come on!" Shikamaru said as he began running in the direction the jutsu came from, Ino close behind him. Chōji just grumbled and reluctantly followed his teammates.

* * *

A couple of minutes later, the trio finally stopped in the middle of a clearing, the surrounding area looking like a stampede of giant bulls came rushing through. "What do you think happened here?" asked Shikamaru.

"I don't know, but- " a cry from above cut the platinum blonde off mid-sentence. "That sounded like a wail, from up there," Ino pointed up. When Team 10 raised their heads to look up at the trees above, they saw just the top of someone's head. Someone with pink hair.

"Is that Sakura?" asked Chōji. "What's she doing up there?"

"I don't know, but I don't see Naruto or Sasuke-kun around. We should go up there and find out if she has their scroll," Shikamaru and Chōji nodded, both agreeing with the Yamanaka's plan.

After making their way up the tree Sakura was on, they jumped onto the branch and landed behind her. Sakura gasped from her kneeling position and whipped the upper half of her body around, kunai in her hand. Seeing that it was just Team 10, she quickly wiped the tears away from her cheeks with her free hand and glared at them. "What the hell do _you_ want?"

"Whoa, Sakura, what happened to you? And where's Naruto and Sasuke-kun?" asked Ino, but her second question was answered for her when she looked past the Haruno. Laying down in front of Sakura were her 'missing' teammates. Both were unconscious, however Naruto was more noticeably worse off. Most of her visible skin had a layer of sweat on it, and despite being out cold, she was gritting her teeth. Most likely from pain. As for Sasuke, he was very pale, paler than usual and he looked like all of his energy had been drained. On top of that, all members of Team 7 were displaying various wounds, ranging from minor scratches to harsh looking cuts and bruises.

Sakura sighed before lowering her kunai. "We were… we were attacked by a ninja from Kusagakure- "

"Wait, _a_ ninja? As in a single Genin?" asked Shikamaru. "One ninja did this to you?"

"No, this guy was _definitely_ not a Genin. He said he came here to see Sasuke. He… he wanted to give a 'power' to him, but when Sasuke couldn't fight him, and Naruto could, he turned to her instead, and now… and now…" Sakura shut her eyes and tried to hold back a sob. Shikamaru and Chōji looked at each other, unsure of whether or not they should follow through with the plan, but Ino made their decision for him.

The Yamanaka knelt beside her ex-best friend and pulled her into a hug, letting the pink haired girl cry into her shoulder. "Now Sasuke and Naruto are hurt, I don't know what to do!"

"Shh, Sakura, it's okay. Let's put this stupid exam aside for now and get somewhere safe. Being out in the open like this isn't good," Shikamaru and Chōji opened their mouths to protest, but were silenced by a glare from their female teammate. The platinum blonde gestured towards Naruto and Sasuke's unconscious bodies with a nod of her head. Her teammates got the message, Chōji carrying Sasuke over his shoulder and Shikamaru carrying Naruto on his back.

* * *

 _ **One Hour Later…**_

Team 10 and Sakura had managed to find a tree with the base hollowed out, giving them plenty of room to shelter Sasuke and Naruto. As the male members of Team 10 set the former two down and made them comfortable, Ino and Sakura got to work covering the hole of the make-shift shelter with nearby foliage. It wasn't perfect, but it should work well enough so that most passing Genins wouldn't look twice at it.

Shikamaru took out a cloth from one of his pouches and soaked it with some water. As he reached out towards Naruto's mask, Sakura's hand shot out and stopped his. "Wait, let me," Shikamaru shrugged and handed the damp cloth to the Haruno before standing up and joining Chōji at the entrance to the shelter.

"Why'd you do that?" asked Ino.

Sakura frowned before replying. "I thought he might take Naruto's mask off completely, and I know that if she were awake, she wouldn't want that. There's something about it that she's not telling me, but as her teammate, I've got to respect that, right?" Sakura asked, looking up at Ino for confirmation.

"I suppose," the blonde replied. "Hey, when did you get so sensitive to Naruto's feelings?"

"I… don't know. During the mission in Wave, I guess. What about you? Don't you feel differently towards her now?" asked the Haruno as she lifted the top of Naruto's mask just enough to slip the cloth under, but not enough to see anything.

"Well yes, it would be a bit hard not to considering," she gestured to Naruto's body. "I mean, she's like a completely different person now."

"That's not really what I meant. Do you not feel… you know… strange? Like this feeling has been inside you for so long, you just never noticed? Or you did, but you ignored it? I don't know if I'm even making any sense," Sakura groaned and rubbed her forehead with the heel of her palm. "I just… care more."

"No, I get what you mean. Really, I do. At first I thought it was just because she almost died for me, despite… everything," at this, the Yamanaka looked down sorrowfully. "Not a day goes by where I don't regret what we did, but I suppose fate has given us a second chance. I don't know what's happened to Naruto, but I don't like it. She's cold, distant and mistrustful."

"To be fair, we deserve the mistrust."

"Yeah, I know, but it's not just us. It's _everyone_. And this change happened like _that_ ," the Yamanaka clicked her fingers and looked up at the Haruno. "Sakura, tell me you intend to find out what happened and how to fix it."

"Eh?!" Sakura's brow furrowed. She was slightly taken aback by Ino's comment.

" _This_ Naruto isn't right. I'm not saying she needs to go back to her annoying, loud, bubbly attitude she had before, but the straight-out coldness coming from her _isn't_ Naruto, it _isn't_ the Naruto that I-!" Ino's eyes widened as she forced herself to shut up. In her passion, she had stopped paying attention to what she was saying, and instead the words leaving her lips were impulsive and not thought out.

"Ino?" Sakura asked, confused and wondering why Ino was now speechless. Before she could question further, her name was called by Shikamaru. The boy's tone sounded urgent, so the Haruno quickly got to her feet and made her way over him, leaving Ino to her thoughts.

The platinum blonde sighed, biting her lip and wondering how she would have ended that sentence.

' _The Naruto that I… that I_ what _? Care about? That was already established. I care about Naruto, just like I care about Chōji or Shikamaru,'_ immediately after saying that statement in her head, she felt like she had just lied to herself. _'No, I don't care about her the way I care about them. But then… what? What is this? What's going on?! Fuck!'_

Ino shook her head, trying to rid herself of the unwanted thoughts. She really didn't want them plaguing her like that, especially when she was in the middle of what was practically a free-for-all with lots of deadly ninja. Looking down, Ino couldn't herself when her eyes were drawn to one of Naruto's hands. Like a child that didn't want to startle an animal, she slowly and carefully reached her own hand out, lightly touching the back of Naruto's hand. The butter blonde's gloves had been removed, as had her headband (which was being used as a belt by the Genin) and her hair-tie.

Naruto's hand was soft on the back, but slightly rough around the palm area. Most likely from training. To Ino's surprise, when she gripped Naruto's hand in a proper hold with her own, the Uzumaki relaxed. No longer gritting her teeth, instead she almost looked relaxed, like she was merely sleeping.

Ino's eyes trailed up Naruto's arm, across her collarbone until they landed on a black seal on the left side of her neck. Ino glared at it, remembering the story Sakura told her about how she got it. That ninja they were fighting bit her, leaving behind something awful. He claimed it was his power, and that Naruto would eventually seek him out for more.

' _Bullshit,'_ thought Ino. _'He can't have her, and I don't care who I have to fight to keep him away from her, that's for sure.'_

"Ino!" said blonde quietly gasped, pulling her hand away from Naruto's in case Sakura, the one who had called on her, came into the make-shift shelter and caught her holding hands with her teammate. Seeing that the Haruno wasn't coming to her, and therefore wanted her to go to Sakura, the platinum blonde got to her feet and made her way to the entrance, pulling back the foliage to see her team and Sakura in defensive positions, weapons drawn.

Just then, Ino noticed the three ninja standing at the other end of the clearing. The first one, the one on the left, had spiked up black hair and metal guards coming down both sides of his face. The one in the middle had a strange cape on, and his face was covered in bandages except his left eye. Lastly, the one on the right was a girl that had long black hair tied together at the end. All three of them wore headbands with a musical note on them, signalling that they were ninja from Otogakure.

"Oh, so there's another one of you brats, is there? No matter, that won't make a difference. We're here for one thing, and one thing only, so I'll give you a choice. You can either wake up Sasuke and step aside as we kill him, or you can try, and fail, to stop us and die along with him," said the one in the middle.

"Ha, you're too soft, Dosu. I say we just kill them, kill Sasuke, and then leave the last one in there for the hungry beasts that lurk around here," commented the one on the left.

"Calm down Zaku, we're civilised people, I see no need to kill these weaklings when it might not be necessary," said Dosu as he held his metal covered arm out in front of his teammate.

"I agree with Zaku. We should just kill them and get it over with, after all, Orochimaru never said we couldn't," the girl said.

' _Orochimaru? I've heard stories about him, and none of them good. Was he the one we were fighting earlier? If that's true, then…'_ Sakura looked back at the shelter, her worry for her blonde teammate doubling.

Dosu sighed, closing her visible eye and shaking his head. "Well, I guess that's that then. Zaku and Kin here seem to want to kill you, and since it's two against one, I'm afraid that's what we're going to have to do," Zaku and Kin grinned, and Dosu even looked smug (if that was possible to notice). Clearly, they were just playing with the Konoha ninja.

"Don't think we're gonna make this easy on you, pal," commented Shikamaru, already going through half a dozen moves he could make in his head.

"All right, let's do this," said Sakura, tightening her gloves.

"No, you stay back."

"What? But why?" the Haruno asked Shikamaru.

"You're already tired from that other fight, no need for you to jump into the action just yet. Let Ino-Shika-Chō handle this for now," he said, turning to Ino and nodding his head. The Yamanaka nodded back and stepped in front of Sakura, who was now making her way to the shelter entrance. The Haruno ducked behind the foliage cover, ready to jump in if she was needed.

"Oh man, you guys are crazy! Look at them! They're scary!" cried Chōji, looking around to see if there was an exit for him.

"Damn it Chōji, shut up and get ready! You're annoying me," yelled Shikamaru. The boy wasn't trying to be mean to his friend, he was merely trying to fire him up.

"Looks like at least one of you has a bit of sense. Funny, I never thought it'd be the fat one," commented Zaku, chuckling to himself.

The effect was immediate.

Chōji became still, his head facing down so his eyes were covered by his hair. " _What did you just say?_ "

' _Uh oh, now he's done it,'_ thought the other two members of Team 10.

"I said, you're surprisingly smart for a fatty."

…

…

…

" _WHO ARE YOU CALLING FAT?! I'M JUST A LITTLE CHUBBY, OKAY?!"_ Chōji yelled at the top of his lungs, looking Zaku straight in the eyes, who was now completely confused, and a slight bit intimidated. " _NOW THIS IS PERSONAL! IT'S A FIGHT TO THE DEATH BETWEEN LEAF AND SOUND!"_

' _Oh, hell yes, now Chōji's ready to go,'_ thought Ino, smiling at her teammate.

"Okay Team 10, let's show these guys what the Leaf is made of. Formation: Ino!"

"Shika!"

" _Chō!"_

* * *

 **A/N: Phew! This one took a while to come out, but it eventually did! Exams are over, but I'm still in school and this is arguably the most important year for me, so I can't guarantee how often this will be updated. I'll only really be able to write when I have enough free time, but I'm hoping I'll be able to send out one chapter at least every month, possibly every two months.**

 **Anyway, as you may have noticed, I've made the development of Ino's feelings for Naruto more explicit compared to the original MtHtS. I'm not saying she's in love with her (yet) but she definitely feels more than friendship right now. Whether she realises it yet is still up in the air.**

 **Something else you may have noticed was that Sasuke was being a coward during the Orochimaru fight. Yes, that is a bit OOC (but not too much since he was like that for a bit of the fight in canon) but that was important to the story and will come up again in the future.**

 **Next chapter: Ino-Shika-Chō vs Sound Trio! (woo)**


	14. The Second Exam, Part Three

_Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto or any of its characters_

' _Thinking.'  
_ "Talking."  
" **Kyūbi/Jutsu**."  
" _ **Cursed Mark."**_

 **TRIGGER WARNING: THIS CHAPTER IS RATED M**

 **There will be implications of** _ **sexual assault**_ **and** _ **brutal beatings.**_ **If either of those make you at all uncomfortable, I highly recommend skipping that part of the chapter. I will mark the BEGINNING of the scene with '!' and the END with '?'.**

* * *

 **Chapter 14: The Second Exam, Part Three**

"Chōji, now!" yelled Ino.

" **Nikudan Sensha**!" Chōji shouted as his body expanded into a large ball, tucking in his head, arms and legs at the same time.

"Oh, you've got to be kidding me. What am I supposed to do? Laugh myself to death?" asked Zaku, however he suddenly felt a massive surge of chakra coming from the Akimichi boy. In a burst of speed, Chōji launched himself at the Sound ninja. " **Zankūha**!"

Supersonic blasts of air were shot out from the air tubes implanted in Zaku's arms, halting the large human ball. Unfortunately for Zaku, instead of stopping the strange jutsu completely, he merely stopped it from coming any closer, but that soon changed.

' _He jumped the sound waves?!'_ Zaku thought in a panic as Chōji leaped into the air, coming straight down for him. The Sound ninja would be crushed in seconds.

"Zaku!" Dosu shouted, but his teammate was unresponsive. The bandaged Sound ninja growled before taking off in a sprint for his teammate, aiming to tackle him out of the way. He was only able to take a few steps before he was involuntarily stopped. "What the hell? Is this some kind of paralysis jutsu?" he asked as his body was forcibly turned to face the Nara boy.

"It's a shadow possession jutsu, actually. Get it right," commented Shikamaru, his hands forming the Rat hand seal. "Ino, do it now."

"You got it! **Shintenshin no Jutsu**!" Ino lifted her hands in her clan's signature formation. Seconds later, her body slumped to her ground.

"Fuck!" shouted Zaku as he narrowly dodged the human boulder. "Kin! What are you doing just standing there? Do something!"

"Party's over, fellas," 'Kin' said, pulling a kunai from her pouch and lifting it up so the sharp tip was pointed at her jugular.

"Kin?! What's going on?!" questioned Dosu as he was forced to move his arms above his head.

"If either of you take any sudden moves, your teammate here is a goner. Understand? Just drop your scroll and walk away. When you're far enough that I don't sense your chakras, I'll let her go."

Before 'Kin' could let out another word, Zaku used his jutsu to send her flying into the tree behind her with enough force to make her cough up a bit of blood. When he looked back at Ino, he noticed that a small amount of blood left a trail down her own chin.

Hearing Chōji come back for round two, the Sound ninja jumped into the air, letting the Konoha Genin pass right under him. " **Zankūha**!" the jutsu hit Chōji square in the back, knocking him out of his own jutsu and sending him skidding across the ground.

"What is wrong with you?! You'd _really_ risk your own teammate's life?!" yelled Shikamaru as he picked up Ino's body carefully, checking her for any broken ribs. Satisfied that there wasn't any, he gently lay her back on the ground.

"Sure, why not? We're not actually here for the test, all we're here for is to kill who Orochimaru told us to kill; Sasuke," replied Zaku, smirking. "Besides, it looks like despite your teammate's jutsu being pretty powerful, it has its drawbacks. Whatever happens to Kin, happens to your friend, so if Kin were to die…"

' _What a drag,'_ thought Shikamaru. Not only was Ino's position compromised and Chōji was out of the picture temporarily from that hit, but his shadow possession jutsu had just worn off.

"Well, well, it seems like your jutsu can only last for so long. That's such a shame... for you," Dosu chuckled as he was finally able to control his own body. "Did you really think you'd be able to beat us? That's laughable. Zaku, finish her."

"GET AWAY FROM HER!" suddenly, a fist came flying for Zaku's stomach from out of nowhere. The boy was taken off his feet and sent back a few metres before landing on his back, clutching his stomach in pain. Sakura stood in front of 'Kin', fist still held out. Luckily for Zaku, the power behind her punch wasn't nearly as much as it could've been. _'I must've used most of my chakra punching that damn snake away from Sasuke.'_

' _Where the hell did she come from?!'_ thought Zaku as he slowly stood back up, wiping away some spit that had escaped his mouth and run past his lips.

"Ino, get out of her, it's too dangerous," commanded Sakura, pulling out a handful of shuriken. In this state, Ino wasn't tempted at all to disobey the Haruno. Quickly forming the release hand seal, Ino escaped Kin's body, letting the latter fall to the ground, unconscious.

"Oh? So now you want a turn? Fine. Dosu, stay out of this. I want to kill this bitch myself," the bandaged ninja merely shrugged before taking a few steps back in order to let his teammate have some space. Immediately after that, Sakura threw the shuriken towards Zaku, who just laughed and sent them straight back at her with his jutsu. The wind from the boy's jutsu disturbed his female teammate's rest, who was now beginning to open her eyes. "Is that really all you've got? Come on, don't you know any jutsu? If you don't then this will just be boring." Suddenly, Sakura felt something grab her by her hair and yank her down to the ground.

"It's about time, Kin," said Zaku, only slightly annoyed at his teammate joining in on 'his' fight.

"Yeah whatever. Let's just finish this already so we can kill Sasuke," Zaku nodded at his teammate's words, pulling out a kunai and walking towards the two girls.

"S-Sakura…" Ino said, weakly, as she tried to free herself from Shikamaru's hold.

"Whoa, I don't think so. You're not in the right condition to get in there," her teammate said as he pulled her towards the bush behind them.

"He's gonna… kill her!"

Shikamaru stayed silent as he forced Ino to lay on the ground. He didn't feel good about abandoning the pink haired girl, but his team came first. This was just one of the many tough decisions he'd have to make in his life.

' _Why am I the one that needs to be saved? Why did I just let Ino, Shikamaru and Chōji take the hits for me? Even when I tried to help, I just ended up playing into the enemy's hands. How could I possibly hope to protect Sasuke and Naruto… when I can't even defend myself?'_ Sakura slowly reached into her kunai pouch. _'If I'm going to get stronger, just like Naruto and Sasuke, I've got to stop relying on others to help me. From now on, I protect_ myself _!'_

"What good do you think that's do? That won't work on either of us," commented Kin as Zaku got closer. The Haruno turned her head to face the older Genin, a fire burning in her eyes and a smile that exuded confidence.

" _This isn't_ _for you_ ," in one fast swipe, Sakura sliced through her pink locks, severing the hold Kin had on her.

"What the-?" Kin said, her mouth agape.

"Damn it Kin, kill her!" shouted Zaku, as his female teammate was closer to the girl. Kin nodded, pulling out some senbon needles and charging at Sakura. Just as she tackled the girl, her senbon digging into Sakura's body, she disappeared in a puff of smoke and was replaced by a log.

Hearing footsteps coming from his left, Zaku turned around to see Sakura running at him, more shuriken in her hands. She launched them at him and then immediately went through the hand seals for the substitution jutsu again. The Sound ninja just smirked, realising what the girl's plan was. After sending the ninja weapons back to her, she was replaced with a log again. Looking up, he saw her coming at him from above, this time without any weapons. To get rid of her this time, he threw his own towards her.

"All right, where are you coming from now?" he asked, looking around. A second later, he felt something warm drip onto his face. Looking back up in confusion, he was shocked to see Sakura still coming at him, the weapons he threw imbedded in her thigh, shoulder and lower legs. "What?!" he shouted as he was tackled to the ground by Sakura, digging her own kunai into his arm and holding down his other arm with her teeth. "What are you? Crazy?!" Zaku began to punch the Haruno in the heard repeatedly in an attempt to get her off of him, but she wouldn't budge.

' _Sakura…'_ thought Ino, completely horrified at the abuse her ex-best friend was willing to go through to protect her teammates.

Sakura groaned when she hit the ground after being pushed off by Zaku. Still not willing to give up, Sakura pushed herself onto her knees, using the hollowed-out tree as something to lean on and support her weight. "Now you're gonna pay," said Zaku, wiping off the blood on the face.

* * *

 _ **In Naruto's Mind…**_

 _Naruto sat up, panting like she had just run a marathon. Looking around, she expected to see the trees of the Forest of Death, but instead she only saw the walls of a room. Her room, specifically._

" _What's going on? Where am I?" she asked no one in particular. Wanting to find answers, Naruto left her room and entered the main area of her apartment, finding it looking much different to how it usually was. Looking out the window, she could see that it was sometime during the night, however in the distance she could see fireworks._

" _Could this be a memory? The only time the village uses fireworks is either on New Year's Day, or…" the Uzumaki left her apartment and walked down to the street below, finding it completely empty of people. Even the nearby houses were void of any light. Suddenly, Naruto heard a shout from her left. The Jinchūriki took off in a sprint towards the noise, hoping that it would somehow give her answers. When she turned the corner, she saw a group of people exit one of the alleys, laughing to themselves. It was only when they got closer to her that she realised they were carrying small weapons. Small, bloody, weapons._

 _Surprisingly, they were either ignoring her, or they were unable to see her at all. Naruto decided that the latter was more likely. Approaching the entrance to the alley, Naruto gulped and clenched her fist, expecting the worst. If she was right in thinking that she was in a memory, and it was on the anniversary of the Kyūbi's defeat, then…_

 _Naruto had to choke back a sob when she saw what was laying on the ground in front of her. Feeling a rush of emotions hit her at once, she was forced to her knees and had to hold a hand to her mouth to keep herself from throwing up. Since the years had gone by from this day, she had managed to block most of the events of this night from her mind, but seeing it now made it all come back. She remembered._

 **!**

 _Laying on the ground in front of Naruto, was herself. Herself from five years ago._

 _She remembered being broken, bloody and in an immeasurable amount of pain, and yet despite that, she didn't cry. She had exhausted herself from crying hours ago, when the villagers started on her. When they put their hands on her, pulling her from one of them to the next when they were done. And then, because they were still weren't satisfied with the suffering they had put her through, they brought out their steel._

 _Naruto, the current Naruto, couldn't hold it back anymore. She collapsed against the wall of the alley, ripping her mask off and holding her hands to her face, trying to desperately wipe away the tears that continuously fell._

 _Pathetic._

 _Dirty._

 _De_ _ **mon.**_

 _ **Powerless.**_

 _ **Weak.**_

" _ **You were weak**_ _," Naruto looked up, shocked to see herself, her younger self, standing in front of her. Despite the numerous wounds and the clothes, now just rags, hanging from her body, the young Naruto stood strong. "_ _ **You didn't protect yourself from them, because you were weak. You didn't have power, you still couldn't use the Kyūbi's power… you were weak**_ _."_

" _W-what?"_

" _ **If only you'd had power, if only you were strong**_ _," the younger Naruto reached up to her face, just above her left eye. "_ _ **You could only watch, helpless, as those arrogant fools took what they wanted from you, and more**_ _," to Naruto's horror, her younger self pulled down the skin on her face, revealing an eye that wasn't her own._

' _Orochimaru…'_

" _ **If only… you would take**_ **my** _ **power**_ _."_

 **?**

* * *

 _ **In the Real World…**_

Sakura, hearing the sound of someone standing behind her, turned to look inside the shelter. Seeing her blonde teammate finally getting up, she exclaimed with joy, "Naruto, you're finally awake!" but what she saw next made her heart stop.

Deep, purple chakra had consumed Naruto's form, hiding her from sight. The only thing that was easy to make out were the bright red flame-like markings slowly spreading across her body, all coming from the left side of her neck.

" _ **Sakura…**_ " said Naruto, her voice sounding slightly deeper than usual. The purple chakra finally started to disappear, and the flame-like marks changed from their original red colour, to a solid black. " _ **Sakura… who did that to you?**_ "

' _Those marks all over her body… could this girl have survived one of Orochimaru-sama's Cursed Marks? If so, why were we tasked with assassinating her teammate? Unless… he changed his plans when it finally came to it?'_ questioned Dosu in his mind, already trying to figure out an exit strategy.

"Naruto…?" asked Sakura, her eyes betraying her fear.

" _ **Tell me, which one of these worms did that to you?**_ " asked Naruto once again, gesturing to the many wounds on the Haruno's body.

"Heh, that would be me," said Zaku, grinning. At that moment, Dosu wanted to strangle the boy, if only to save him from the endless amount of pain this girl was inevitably going to put him through.

The Uzumaki turned to face the Sound ninja, rage swirling around in her visible eye. The marks across the left side of her body turned red again before spreading to the other side. Once they had covered the girl, they turned black again.

Zaku slammed his palms together, getting ready to release another jutsu. "What's wrong, Dosu? Getting cold feet, are ya?"

"No, Zaku! You don't understand!" shouted Dosu as he reached his hand out towards his teammate.

" **Zankūkyokuha**!" yelled Zaku as he shot his arms out, wind coming from the air tubes in his arms in a greater and faster proportion than ever. The jutsu destroyed the ground it touched, even completely tearing apart the shelter Sakura and Team 10 had found. When the jutsu ended, Zaku smirked to himself, seeing that Team 7 were nowhere to be found. "Look at that, I blew them all away!"

" _ **Not quite,**_ **"** Zaku barely had time to blink before he was backhanded by Naruto from behind. The Sound ninja's body was sent flying towards Dosu, landing just a few feet in front of the bandaged Genin.

' _Such speed! She got herself_ and _both of her teammates out of harm's way!'_ thought Dosu as Zaku stood up.

" _ **Katon: Gōryūka no Jutsu!**_ " a fireball in the shape of a dragon's head left Naruto's mouth, heading straight for Zaku.

"I don't think so, kid. **Zankūha**!" the wind from Zaku's jutsu easily dispersed the fire, but it didn't stop the fūma shuriken hidden within. Zaku cried out when one of the blades of the large shuriken pierced his shoulder. The boy fell to his knees, clutching his shoulder with his hand. A second later, Naruto appeared behind him.

"Zaku!" cried Dosu as the Uzumaki mercilessly ripped the fūma shuriken from the Sound ninja's shoulder, the weapon disappearing immediately after. To make things worse for the Sound ninja, Naruto placed her foot on his back and grabbed his wrists, pulling them back at a ninety-degree angle. Zaku, realising just what the Jinchūriki had planned for him, began to beg for his life.

" _ **Oh? Where did all your confidence go? Ah, I see, you're only confident when you can use your arms to intimate others. Heh, you seem very…**_ **attached** _ **to them.**_ "

"No… wait," Sakura pleaded to Naruto, but it didn't seem like the girl heard her.

' _Is… is that really Naruto?'_ thought Ino.

There was a short pause before Zaku screamed, his voice almost drowning out the sound of bones being shattered. Naruto smirked as she let the boy's body fall to the ground, completely unconscious. The Uzumaki turned to look at Dosu, and then Kin. " _ **So, who should I go to next? What about you?**_ " she asked Kin. The other girl just started shaking violently until she fell backwards onto her behind. " _ **Didn't think so,**_ " the blonde turned to Dosu. " _ **I guess that means it's your turn.**_ "

Naruto's visible eye turned into her dōjutsu, this time summoning her scythe. She allowed the weapon's point to cut into the ground as she slowly walked towards the bandaged boy, knowing that there was no way for him to escape her now. " _ **I do hope you make things more interesting than your worthless friend did.**_ "

Dosu couldn't believe his eyes. This was supposed to be a simple mission for his team, but he should've known. Orochimaru doesn't see anyone but himself and his _assistant_ as anything but expendable. He had no problems sending his people to their deaths, and that's exactly what was happening right now, he had no doubt about that. This girl in front of him was death itself.

' _Ino was right, whoever this is, she_ isn't _Naruto. I can't let her do this!'_

"Naruto! Stop!" Sakura cried as she ran towards the Uzumaki. As soon as she reached the smaller girl, she wrapped her arms around her shoulders and pulled her into a hug. "Stop this… _please_ ," the Haruno cried into Naruto's shoulder, praying to whatever God that may be out there to get her teammate, her _friend,_ to stop.

' _Sakura…'_ Naruto sighed as she closed her eye, her scythe disappearing and the marks on her body slowly receding until they settled back into the Cursed Mark on her neck. The Uzumaki groaned as her body suddenly felt extremely weak, like all of her energy had been sapped from her. Sakura quickly hooked her arms under her teammate's, letting her fall gently against her so she could slowly lower her down to the ground.

"Naruto, right? You're strong, _too_ strong," commented Dosu as he reached into his pouch, pulling out a Heaven scroll. "We could never hope to defeat you, not now, anyway," the Sound ninja placed the scroll on the ground. "Please, take this and let me leave with my team. Do that, and I promise you… if we ever face each other in the battlefield again, we won't run or hide."

Sakura looked at the scroll, disappointed that it wasn't an Earth scroll, but a quick glance at Team 10 let her know that they needed that. The Haruno looked back at Dosu and nodded, letting him know that she accepts his proposal on behalf on her team. Dosu then picked up Zaku and helped Kin get up. However, before the team could leave, Sakura called out to them.

"Wait! Who is this Orochimaru anyway? And what does he want with Naruto?"

"I don't know. All I do know is that we were told to target Sasuke, but it appears Orochimaru changed his mind and chose your other teammate instead. I suppose she proved to him that she was the better choice. I don't even know why we were sent to kill someone he bestowed such powers to, but if I were to take a guess, I'd say it was a test for her."

As the Sound team left the clearing, Sakura was left with one thing, and one thing only; an overwhelming sense of dread of what was to come for Naruto.

* * *

 **A/N: Boom, another chapter out, albeit a little shorter than the last one. Suppose I thought this was a good place to end it.**

 **Remember to leave a review if you can! You get a virtual cookie if you do :D**


	15. Preliminaries, Part One

_Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto or any of its characters._

 **A/N: Sorry for the wait, but a while ago my laptop broke down and I had to take it to a repair shop. At the time, I was working on chapter 15 (about 2,500 words in) which was unfortunately lost as the repair involved completely resetting the laptop back to factory default. Oh well, from now on I'll remember to back up every chapter on my USB.**

 **I've also realised that a lot of you (me included) are getting bored of just reading what is basically canon Naruto in text format. Because of that, I've decided to skip some events. This chapter starts off just as Team 7 reach the tower. The whole thing with Kabuto and the genjutsu cast by the other team did happen, and was pretty similar to canon events. Some things to know for this chapter:  
** **Team 7 knows that Naruto can't use chakra without the Cursed Mark acting up.  
** **Naruto is unable to make contact with the Kyūbi. She's panicking inside but doesn't let it show.  
** **Both Sakura and Ino have started to realise their feelings for Naruto may perhaps extend beyond friendship, but they're still unsure. It's very confusing for them right now.**

 **This probably seems like lazy writing, but it's really a favour to both of us :D**

"Talking."  
' _Thinking.'  
_ " **Kyūbi/Jutsu**."  
 _Flashback_

* * *

 **Chapter 15: Preliminaries, Part One**

' _Thank Kami we're away from that Kabuto guy. There's no way him smelling of snakes and Orochimaru's appearance is a coincidence. The two of them have to be linked somehow,'_ thought Naruto as she and her teammates entered the tower through one of the sealed doors. _'Kurama, where the hell are you?'_ for the past few hours she had been trying to reach the Tailed Beast sealed within her, however all her attempts had failed.

"Hey, look at the writing on the wall," Sakura said while pointing to a large sign on the wall directly in front of them. "It says 'if qualities of Heaven are your desire, acquire wisdom to take your mind higher. If Earthly qualities are what you lack, train your body and prepare to attack. When Heaven and Earth are open together- '"

"This rhyme sounds like it was written by a child," commented Naruto as she avoided eye contact with Sakura, who was now glaring at the blonde for interrupting her. "It's not like it's terribly difficult to understand anyway. 'When Heaven and Earth are open together'? We just need to open the scrolls at the same time, right?"

"Certainly sounds like it," said Sasuke as he pulled out the Heaven and Earth scrolls, throwing the latter towards Sakura. Sasuke and Sakura then began to open their scrolls while Naruto stood behind them, watching them closely in case something went wrong and she needed to get away from the scrolls. Once the two Genin pulled the scrolls open completely, a series of symbols around a large circle appeared in the middle of the paper.

"What does that mean?" asked Naruto as she and Team 7 studied the writing. Before someone could answer her, the middle of the circle inflated, like something was trying to free itself from the paper. Once it started smoking, Sasuke began to panic.

"Shit, it's a summoning jutsu! Sakura, ditch the scroll!" he shouted as he threw the Heaven scroll towards the wall, Sakura repeated his action. A few moments later, a big puff of smoke appeared where the scrolls landed.

"Congratulations," said a voice from the smoke.

"Iruka-sensei?" asked Naruto, instantly recognising the voice. The man himself grinned as the smoke disappeared. "What are you doing here?"

"Some Chūnin were picked to welcome the Genin taking the second test, it was just pure luck that I was picked to welcome you three. Speaking of which, you look like you've been through a lot. How are you doing?" he asked, frowning when he saw the state the trio were in.

"We're fine," said Naruto as she made her way to Iruka, stopping just in front of him. Before they had reached the tower, the Uzumaki had covered the mark on her neck with tape and a gauze, hoping that people would just assume it was an injury she received during the test. "What's next then?"

"Well, I'd love to treat you guys to some ramen," at the mention of ramen, Naruto perked up, "however the Hokage wants to see all the teams that passed in the sparring hall."

"Sparring hall?" asked Sakura.

"Yeah, something about too many teams passing therefore each of you will have to fight in a match. The winner gets to move on to the third test."

"What?! We just got here!" Naruto said in disbelief. "Every other team that got here before us has had hours, even _days_ to prepare!"

"I'm sorry Naruto, but there's not enough time for you to get a proper rest. Your team is one of the last to finish with only one hour left to spare."

Naruto huffed, crossing her arms and walking straight past Iruka to get the door that would lead further into the tower. Iruka smiled as he watched Team 7 go, his body filled with pride.

' _They've come so far in such little time. I have no more doubts about them. They're all going to be something someday, that I'm sure of. Kakashi… thank you.'_

* * *

Anko groaned, her hand clutching at her own Cursed Mark on her neck. After her fight with her former sensei, it hadn't stopped irritating her, but the physical pain was nothing compared to what he'd said to her.

" _My newest student has incredible potential. Not only does she hold unimaginable power inside her, she's also inherited the bloodline abilities of the long-lost Uzumaki clan. I've also heard that you have become…_ fond _of her. How very unlike you, Anko."_

' _I can hardly believe it, that sick bastard has gone after her. I swear, I'll_ kill him _.'_

"Anko, you're sure he's gone after Naruto?" the Sandaime Hokage asked, his signature smoking pipe in his mouth.

"I'm absolutely positive, Sandaime-sama," she replied, looking down at her clenched fist.

"I see," the Hokage looked at the two Chūnin stood behind Anko. "Inform Kakashi about the probability of Naruto having one of Orochimaru's marks. He's the only one that can do anything for her right now." The two Chūnin quickly bowed and left to carry out the Hokage's order.

"Anko, don't blame yourself. No one in the village could have foreseen Orochimaru's intentions. Not even I, his former sensei, could see them."

"Forgive me, Hokage-sama, but this is _different_. I knew my mark felt funny as soon as the Chūnin exams began, but I ignored it, thinking that there was no way that monster would be bold enough to try anything like this. And now… Naruto…" the woman sighed, closing her eyes in an effort to bottle up the emotions a ninja like her should _not_ let escape.

"Anko," Hiruzen placed a hand on the Mitarashi's shoulder, "it was _not_ your fault, don't let yourself succumb to guilt. At this point, that won't do Naruto any good," Anko instantly straightened herself up, taking a deep breath to calm herself. "When this is exam is over, Naruto's going to need someone to be there for her. Who would be better for the job than the one that's already been through it? Not to mention you two are already close."

"Yes, of course," Anko nodded while smiling. It was true, she and the young Uzumaki had developed a kind of bond that only they could experience, having gone through similar events in their lives.

"Good," the old man said as he took his hand away. "Now I do believe we have some preliminaries to attend."

* * *

"First of all, congratulations on finishing the second exam!" Anko said from the front of the hall. Next to her stood the Hokage and behind them were the Jōnin leaders of each team. The Chūnin involved in the exam stood in two diagonal lines in front of the Genin. _'There were 78 ninja that took the second exam. Frankly, I'm surprised that 21 of them made it through, I thought for sure it was would be single digits.'_

Ino looked over the heads of many Genin until she found Team 7. "Oh good, looks like Naruto, Sasuke and Sakura passed too," she commented.

"Of course they did. After all the trouble we went through to keep them safe, they better have," replied Shikamaru who received a punch in the arm. After rubbing the spot on his arm, Shikamaru continued to speak, "Why do you care so much anyway?"

"No reason in particular," she lied, playing with the ends of her arm-warmers.

"Now unfortunately, too many of you passed, and therefore preliminary matches are to be held here," Anko waited until the cries of outrage from the Genin ninja ended before continuing. "I'm going to hand over to the Chūnin proctor now. Hayate…"

"Thank you, Anko," said the only Chūnin wearing his headband like the first test proctor. "Like Anko just said, too many of you passed the first and second exam, probably because they were too easy this year. Due to that, we must hold preliminary rounds that will involve individuals fighting one another in a randomised match, that way the matchups are fair. If any of you feel like you're not in top physical condition, now's your chance to leave."

' _I wonder if he actually thinks anyone is gonna- '_ the Uzumaki's thought was interrupted by shooting pain up her shoulder and neck.

"Naruto?" asked Sakura in concern when the blonde gripped the area she was bitten. "Naruto, listen, you've got to quit. You've been like this since you woke up after being attacked by Orochimaru, and it's only going to get worse until you get help," when Naruto didn't acknowledge her words, Sakura placed her hand on Naruto's forearm and pulled it towards her until the Uzumaki turned to face her. "You can't deny it, Naruto. Please, quit now before…" Sakura's grip on Naruto's arm tightened as she looked down at her feet.

Suddenly, Naruto grabbed Sakura's wrist, causing the latter to gasp in shock. "I'm. Not. Quitting," the blonde said, ripping Sakura's hand off of her arm. "Now shut up before someone hears you."

"Hey, watch it," said Sasuke as he turned to face his teammates.

"Oh, don't tell me you're trying to be her knight in shining armour. You're really gonna throw away years of building up that emo kid reputation now?"

"I just think you're being ridiculous," Sasuke grabbed the front of Naruto's top, pulling her towards him. "From what you and Sakura told me, that mark is dangerous, to you and everyone around you. You nearly killed three people just because you _could_ , and now you nearly tore Sakura's arm off," the Uchiha gestured towards their pink haired teammate. The Jinchūriki turned her head to look at the Haruno who was staring at the ground, clutching the arm Naruto had grabbed. A bruise was beginning to form on her wrist in the shape of a hand.

The Uzumaki felt her mouth involuntarily form into a frown, but she quickly replaced it with a snarl. The blonde then pushed Sasuke away from her. "I didn't ask for your opinion, teme. Now back off."

Before the Uchiha could spit out another word, he was stopped by a loud 'ding'. Every Genin turned to look at a black screen on the wall behind the Jōnin. The bright yellow lettering on it read:

 **Uzumaki Naruto vs Akadō Yoroi**

"Everyone except the two on the screen, please leave the floor and head up to one of the two walkways on either side of the room!" Hayate ordered before experiencing one of his coughing episodes.

" _Don't_ push yourself, or you'll regret it," warned Sasuke as he and Sakura joined the rest of the Konoha 12 on one of the walkways. Surprisingly, Sakura left without saying a word to Naruto, which caused the Uzumaki to stare at the Haruno's back as she walked away, feeling a strange sense of regret.

"Are you ready to fight or do you want a few more seconds to stare at your girlfriend?" taunted Yoroi. Although the lower half of his face was hidden, Naruto could tell her was smirking.

"You mean am I ready to kick your ass into next year? Yeah, I'm ready," replied Naruto as she got into a fighting stance. A second later, she could feel a presence behind her.

"Don't use your Futsunushi," Kakashi said as Naruto narrowed her eyes, "in fact, don't use any chakra if you can help it because that's what aggravates that mark on your neck."

"So, you know about it then."

"Your life could be in danger," the masked man ignored Naruto's reply. "Just so you know if it gets to that stage, I'll step in and end the match. Good luck," and with that, the Jōnin left to join the rest of Team 7, leaving Naruto to contemplate what her sensei just said.

' _Although I hate to admit it, Kakashi-sensei has a point. Every time I use my chakra at all, this thing on my neck gets a little stronger, gains a little more control over me, and I cannot- no,_ will _not let that happen, even if that means fighting this guy with just taijutsu and whatever tools I have with me now.'_

Before Naruto could blink, Yoroi sent a handful of shuriken towards her, which she just managed to intercept with shuriken of her own. The sudden movement sparked up the mark on her neck, causing her to stumble and fall forwards. The other Leaf ninja took advantage of this and dashed towards her, aiming a punch at her head. Naruto barely managed to dodge by rolling to the side before twisting her body around so she could kick the older ninja in the back of his legs, forcing him onto his knees. She then followed up by kicking the back of his neck, pulling him to the ground and locking his head between her legs, and at the same time pulling his arm towards her head.

"Big mistake," the man said as he twisted his arm to grip her top with his hand. Suddenly, the Uzumaki felt the strength in her body drain at an alarming rate. She looked down to see Yoroi's hand surrounded in blue chakra, which seemed to be coming from herself. Feeling the girl's grip on his arm weaken, the older Leaf ninja lifted his arm up and brought it back down, landing a heavy blow on Naruto's chest which winded her.

Yoroi quickly stood up and jumped away from the Jinchūriki in order to prepare his next move. Just as the blonde sat up, the Akadō jumped on her, his hand gripping her hair and pushing her back down. Naruto once again felt all the strength in her body leave her, like her very life essence was disappearing. She couldn't even raise her arms.

"What… the hell are you… doing to my chakra?" Naruto could just barely get the words to leave her mouth.

"You're just noticing it now? Haha!" he replied, his grip growing tighter.

' _That's right, Naruto. You can feel your chakra being absorbed by Yoroi, can't you? Eventually you'll have no choice but to use the delicious chakra from the Cursed Mark, not even the Kyūbi's chakra is accessible to you while the mark is feeding from you,'_ thought Orochimaru from one of the walkways. He had disguised himself as the Jōnin leader for the Sound team, which was proving to be the best method of infiltration.

"That's it… get off!" yelled Naruto as she kicked Yoroi in the abdomen, sending him away from her and onto his back. The Uzumaki stood up on shaky legs just as Yoroi charged towards her again, his hand glowing with chakra. Naruto managed to dodge most of his strikes, but when she jumped to the side, the older Leaf ninja's thumb brushed the end of her ponytail. The Uzumaki groaned as she stumbled forward, barely able to stay standing. He had already taken so much from her that a single brief touch almost sent her face first to the ground.

' _I have no way to fight him! They only way to beat him is at long range, which is impossible for me since I don't have my dōjutsu or my jutsu. I'm fighting a losing battle,'_ thought the blonde as she turned to face her opponent.

"Hey, Naruto! You can't be serious!" yelled Sasuke from the walkway behind her. The Uzumaki looked at him in confusion, wondering what he was trying to do. "You're letting this guy walk all over you! I thought you were better than that, but I guess you're still the same dead-last loser from the academy!"

Naruto growled and clenched her fists. How dare he say that, right in front of lots of other people as well. She'll be the laughing stock of each village in the damn ninja world now. Just then, an idea came to her. Looking at Rock Lee, the Uzumaki smirked. _'I don't need the Sharingan to copy someone's taijutsu.'_

"Your last mistake was turning your back on me!" shouted Yoroi as he tried to grab Naruto with his signature attack. The girl just kept dodging each attempted strike with a smile on her face, which seemed to irritate Yoroi more and more, until finally, the blonde disappeared. "What?! Where did she-?"

Suddenly, the Uzumaki appeared in front of Yoroi, but before he could act, she crouched down and lifted her leg to kick him in the jaw, sending him into the air. When he began to float, those that had seen Rock Lee's move gasped. A second later, the Jinchūriki appeared under Yoroi.

"I'll admit, I kinda stole that move from someone I met recently, but from now, it's all original," she said, however immediately after, her vision went dark. Letting out a cry of pain, the Uzumaki's hand flew to her neck where the mark was. _'Damn it, not now!'_

Red flame-like marks started to appear over the visible parts of Naruto's skin, all originating from the Cursed Mark. Members of Team 7 and 10 all rushed over to the railing, trying to get a closer look at their friend and teammate. Sasuke and Kakashi even tried to use their Sharingan to see the foreign chakra covering Naruto's body.

' _Is this it?'_ Kakashi asked himself as he prepared himself to end the match. Even Hayato, the proctor, seemed ready to stop it.

Meanwhile, Naruto was experiencing an internal struggle with the chakra trying to invade her system. _'Leave me alone!'_ she tried to use pure willpower to halt the mark's spread, but it wouldn't listen. The Uzumaki even tried calling for the Kyūbi's aid, but somehow the beast wouldn't respond. _'I can't let this thing control me, not again!'_ The memories of what she did to that Sound ninja resurfaced, but the image that stood out the most was the fear-stricken face of her teammate, Sakura.

" _Stop this… please."_

' _I've had enough of this! Like hell I'm gonna let this thing take over!'_ with all the strength she had left inside of herself, Naruto fought. She fought the chakra into submission like she was fighting for her life. Eventually, the red marks began to recede back into the Cursed Mark, much to the shock of Orochimaru, Kakashi, Anko and the Hokage.

"Sorry for that inconvenience, but I'm not done with you yet!" the Uzumaki grinned before flipping Yoroi in mid-air so she was now above him. Feeling like she was finally in control of herself, the blonde decided to take a risk and summon a shadow clone and when she didn't feel a single protest coming from the mark, she continued.

The Uzumaki used the clone to jump higher into the air while also using her dōjutsu to summon one of the black and red gauntlets on her right hand. _'This is gonna do some serious damage,'_ she thought as she summoned another clone, using this one to boost herself back down towards Yoroi. Just before she reached him, she decided to take a page out of Sakura's book and surround her gauntlet in what little chakra she had left.

" _Take this!_ " the Jinchūriki yelled, slamming her fist into her opponent's stomach. The older Leaf ninja let out a painful yell as his body was struck not only by Naruto, but as his body hit the ground. Naruto was thrown backwards from the force of the impact, her gauntlet disappearing.

Both the Uzumaki and the Akadō seemed to be down for the count, the only indication of her even being conscious was the scrunched-up face and the heavy breathing. Hayato sighed and prepared to declare the match a draw when the blonde finally began to stand up, much to the relief of many people watching.

"As the winner of this preliminary match, Uzumaki Naruto will move on to the third test," when Naruto heard Hayate declare her the winner, Naruto exhaled sharply and fell forwards, however before she could hit the ground, Kakashi caught her.

"Not bad, Naruto. Not bad at all," he commented while helping the girl stand up straight. "I noticed that before you were able to remarkably use your chakra you used a moved that was reminiscent of one of Rock Lee and Gai's moves. I'm impressed you were able to figure out the technique after witnessing it only once. You know, I'm actually starting to like you."

…

…

…

"If you say that to me one more time I swear I'm calling social services."

"Wha-what? No, no that's not what I- Naruto you know what I- "

"I'm kidding!" Naruto said, holding her hands up while smiling, which didn't go unnoticed by the masked man. A second later, it was gone. Still, Kakashi counted it as a small victory. However…

' _The way she copied Gai's technique… she shouldn't have been able to do that at this stage. I've only been with her for a short time, and Iruka's academy file on her made her seem like she was a complete dropout until one day she came in and aced the graduation tests. Even then, that just makes her an average ninja, certainly not at the level it would take to steal a specialised technique like that. Somehow, Naruto's developing at an extremely fast rate. In fact, I'm sure that if she hadn't had such a bad start, she would be on par with an advanced Chūnin right now. What could this mean?'_

' _Damn, I knew Naruto had become pretty strong, but to beat the power of the Cursed Mark like that?'_ Anko unconsciously touched her own Mark. _'She's becoming something I doubt anyone expected.'_

Ino sighed, wiping away the traces of sweat that had begun to form on her forehead. "What?" she asked Shikamaru when she caught him staring at her.

"Were you worried for Naruto or something?" he asked, raising an eyebrow.

"W-what? No way! It's just suddenly really hot in here, ahaha!" the Yamanaka laughed nervously while shaking the top of her shirt like it really was hot in the room and she was trying to get some cold air against her face.

' _Yeah right, you always have been a terrible liar, Ino,'_ thought Shikamaru. There was no chance he was going to say that to her face, however. He preferred having his head planted firmly on his shoulders.

"Come on, we need to seal that Cursed Mark up right now," said Kakashi as he put his hand on Naruto's shoulder to guide her out of the room, also in case she fainted from exhaustion.

"What? But I want to see the rest of the preliminaries."

"Don't worry, you won't miss them all. I'll take you right back as soon as we're done. Now come on," Kakashi replied. The Uzumaki gave a disappointed sigh before reluctantly following her sensei out the room.

* * *

 **A/N: There ya go, a little bonding between Kakashi and Naruto. Only seems right at this point.**

 **As you can see Naruto felt a bit guilty at hurting Sakura, and that's because she didn't feel like Sakura deserved it, and also because she doesn't like letting her emotions cloud her judgement. She's not heartless.**

 **A song that I found recently that I feel fits Naruto's reflection thinking back to when Ino and Sakura basically abandoned her:  
 _Dark_ _on Me_** **by Starset (I've listening to more of their songs and they're actually really good, I highly recommend them)**

 **It's more specifically certain lyrics, e.g.:  
** _ **But I found in you what was lost in me  
**_ _ **In a world so cold and empty**_

 **and:**

 _ **You're the cause  
**_ _ **You're the antidote  
**_ _ **The sinking ship I could not let go  
**_ _ **You led my way then disappeared  
**_ _ **How could you just walk away and leave me here?**_

 **Listening to what I have dubbed the 'MtHtS Playlist' really gets me in the mood to write. I dunno if that's a technique some of you writers use, but yeah, that's what I do.**


	16. Preliminaries, Part Two

_Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto or any of its characters._

' _Thinking.'  
_ "Talking."  
" **Kyūbi/Jutsu**."  
" **Inner Sakura."**

* * *

 **Chapter 16: Preliminaries, Part Two**

Kakashi sighed as he used a cloth to wipe the blood from his fingertips. Naruto lay unconscious in front of him, her upper body bare except for the sports bra she wore. The Hatake had just finished placing a seal around the Curse Mark on Naruto's neck, which was unfortunately painful enough for the girl to pass out just as the seal was completed. Kakashi wasn't worried, he knew the blonde would be waking up in a matter of minutes, no doubt ready to rip his face off for telling her it 'wouldn't hurt'.

' _Well, I wasn't technically lying. It didn't hurt me.'_

"My, my… you've certainly grown up," said an unmistakable voice from the shadows. Kakashi whipped his body around to face his potential attacker, but even when he realised Orochimaru wasn't going to strike, he still didn't relax. "To see you become strong enough to master the sealing of one of my Curse Marks… it almost brings a tear to my eye," the snake master mocked him.

"Orochimaru," Kakashi said, his fists clenching. "If you think I'm going to let you _anywhere near her_ , I'll- "

"Calm yourself, Kakashi, I have no intentions of taking her. No, she'll come to me willingly. All I have to do is wait, patiently."

"Then you'll be waiting for a long, long time, because there's no way this village will let her go to you. You must know that."

"I'm not a fool, of course I know Hiruzen would give an arm and a leg to protect Naruto-chan. I also know you would give the same, possibly even more as would a couple of others, but most of all, I know that there are many that would prefer Naruto-chan's death than for me to have her. Tell me, Kakashi… when Naruto-chan does finally join me, and you are ordered to find and execute her, as you would for any missing ninja… would you? I'm curious."

"What game are you trying to play here?" asked Kakashi, ignoring the question he simply could not answer, although he doubted it would actually come to that. Naruto was simply too precious to treat her as a regular missing ninja, both as a Jinchūriki and as an Uzumaki with the Futsunushi. Orochimaru, of course, noticed this and licked his lips with his abnormally large tongue.

"This Sound village that everyone is curious about? I created it, and I think you understand what I'm getting at."

"Hn, you and your wild ambition."

"Yes indeed, as always, but to play the game you mentioned, I need pieces to use. Not so unlike a chessboard, and every player needs willing pawns to do my bidding."

"Pawns? Is that what Naruto is to you?!"

"Oh no, she is worth much more than that, but as for the others? Well, you know how it is in a game of chess. Pieces _must_ be sacrificed for the good of the game," Orochimaru grinned before taking a few steps forward. Kakashi tensed his body up, and when Orochimaru took his fifth step, he decided that was enough. Quickly, the masked man tore his headband off to reveal his Sharingan and began to gather lightning chakra in his hand.

"Don't come any closer! You may be one of the legendary Sannin, but I swear, if you come _any_ closer, one of us is going to die here!" the laughter that followed made the Hatake hesitate for a moment. "Is this funny to you?"

"Oh Kakashi, you protect her with such a ferocity, it's admirable. If only it wasn't such a waste of effort. You really think you can keep her here? I've witnessed the torture this village has put her through myself. It would be insane to believe she was happy here."

"Shut up! You have no idea what you're talking about!"

"But I do, Kakashi! And you do too! Stop lying to yourself, you can see that delicious hatred burning inside her every time you look into her eye, that hatred that hungers for one thing only; revenge. That's just the person she is, the person this dreadful place has turned her into."

"And you think you can take advantage of that?" the chakra in Kakashi's hand grew more intense as he charged it more it more, his anger fuelling him. "No, not her. Not Naruto."

"You can't stop it. No one can," Orochimaru gave one last smile before walking away, leaving Kakashi's attack to burn out, just like his rage. The Jōnin knew he had to get himself under control before Naruto woke up. Picking up his headband and tying it in its usual place, the Hatake stared into the darkness Konoha's worst traitor disappeared into.

' _You're wrong. It can be stopped,'_ he thought, grabbing Naruto t-shirt and headband. _'There's one thing you forgot about, something a monster like you simply can't understand…'_

Kakashi helped Naruto, who was now beginning to awaken, to sit up and put her missing piece of clothing on. She thanked him as he grabbed her hands to pull her into a standing position. "Ready to go?" he asked her, and when she nodded in response, he 'poofed' them back into the sparring hall, the two appearing on the walkway beside Sasuke. The Uchiha gave them a curt nod in greeting before turning to look back to the floor below. The boy's clothes were torn in some places, more than earlier, which implied his match had already happened, and since he wasn't brooding more than usual, Kakashi realised he must have won. After giving Sasuke a brief pat on the back to congratulate him, he too looked down at the floor to see who the next fighters were.

Kakashi chuckled, which earned him a couple of confused looks from his students, which he ignored. The two fighters had just been the objects of his previous thoughts, which was amusing to say the least.

' _Love. Love is what you can't understand.'_

 **Haruno Sakura vs Yamanaka Ino**

* * *

Sakura dashed towards Ino, sending a kick towards her head which the latter ducked under. Ino tried to land a punch on Sakura's chest and when that didn't work, she tried one for her stomach, which was deflected. The Haruno attempted to sweep the blonde's legs out from under her, but Ino merely jumped over it, so Sakura aimed another kick at Ino while she was in the air. Ino jumped away from Sakura by planting her feet on Sakura's incoming leg and pushing off of it, landing a short distance away. The pink haired girl groaned in frustration, pulling out a handful of kunai and throwing them towards her opponent. Ino quickly grabbed one out of the air and used it to deflect the remaining weapons, throwing it back to Sakura immediately after.

The two girls charged at each other again, both willing to give hand-to-hand combat another go. Although Ino knew that was dangerous, as Sakura had her new chakra punch ability, she also knew the Haruno was low on chakra and most likely wouldn't risk using it so early into the match.

After trading a series of minor blows, Sakura was able to land an elbow against the Yamanaka's abdomen, which had luckily winded her. Seeing this as her chance, Sakura raised her gloved fist and forced her chakra into it, preparing to knock Ino out in a single hit. Just as her attack was about to land on Ino's head, she hesitated. Ino stared up at Sakura in shock, her eyes moving between her fist and her face, wondering why her rival hadn't ended the match there. Unfortunately, it didn't seem like Sakura had the answer herself. The blonde glared at her rival, straightening herself up and staring right into Sakura's green eyes.

"All right, listen here Sakura. I'm not going to fight you for Sasuke anymore."

"Excuse me?"

"You heard me! I'm not the same weak, defenceless girl I used to be, but I'm not so sure about you!" Ino took off her headband from around her waist, tying it around her forehead in the traditional manner. "I've gotten over my petty crush. It's not like it meant anything anyway, it was just the wish of a young girl living a fantasy, but no more!"

"You better watch yourself, Pig!" shouted Sakura who looked like she was about to pop a vein.

"I sure hope Ino knows what she's doing, cause I've never seen Sakura this angry before," commented Naruto who was leaning against the railing next to her male teammate, who nodded in agreement.

"There's more to it than that, Naruto," said Kakashi from behind the blonde. "From what Asuma has told me about her, she's not the kind of person to say things like that in the spur of the moment. She's doing this because she doesn't want Sakura to take pity on her and pull her punches. She wants to get her riled up so they both can go all-out."

"I see…" replied the Uzumaki, resting her head on her folded arms. She was now paying a lot more attention to this fight.

Sakura gave a small smile, however it wasn't due to positive feelings. "I understand now, Ino," she said as she pulled off her own headband, tying it around her forehead. "From now on, no holding back. A fair fight, and I'm going to win!"

"I wouldn't count on that, Sakura!" yelled Ino as she ran towards Sakura. The Haruno grinned before raising her fist and smashing it against the ground. The floor immediately in front of her broke apart, sending chunks of it into the air. Ino was forced to dodge the bits of concrete, however she used one particularly large chunk to get herself into the air. "Try this!" Ino pulled out three kunai from her pouch and threw them towards Sakura. One landed behind her and two in front of her, and just as she realised that there were paper bombs attached to them, they exploded. Sakura was sent crashing into the wall, her body leaving a small crack. It took her a couple of seconds to shake away the blurriness from her vision, which was all Ino needed to strike.

With another battle cry, Ino knocked Sakura to the side with a kick to her torso. "Is that all you've got?" taunted Ino as Sakura started to stand up on shaky legs, her face expressing how much pain she was in.

"N-not… even close," replied Sakura as she pulled out a kunai. Ino copied her, bringing out her own weapon. Almost instantly, the two met in close combat again. Despite just having experienced three explosions go off right next to her, Sakura was able to keep up with Ino's speed and strength, which was beginning to seriously annoy the platinum blonde.

"Just give up already!" Ino commanded Sakura, however a second later her kunai was knocked out of her hand.

"Ha, maybe you should be the one to give up!" Sakura swiped at Ino with her kunai which just managed to slice into the Yamanaka's exposed palm. The blonde hissed and pulled her hand back, watching as the blood began to spill onto the floor.

"Shit!" she cried out, glaring daggers at the pink haired kunoichi who looked a little remorseful. She clearly didn't think her strike would have landed. "Why you little…!" Ino pulled back her bloody hand and clenched it into a fist, bringing towards Sakura's face. The Haruno, not willing to be caught off guard, also brought her own fist towards Ino. When both girls' attacks landed, the two were sent backwards from the force.

"How are you able to do this? You're _not_ supposed to be evenly matched with me!" yelled out Ino in her fury at not being able to dominate Sakura in fighting skill.

"I guess you're not the only one that's gotten over her young fantasy," Sakura smirked at her ex-best friend who was seething. The Yamanaka growled, pulling out her last kunai, bringing it up to her head. Sakura could only watch in shock as her rival cut off the long hair she had been so proud of her entire life.

"See? You're not the only one that can change for the better!" Ino threw the long strands of hair towards Sakura which had been partially covered in blood due to the still bleeding hand. The hair landed between the Yamanaka and the Haruno, almost like a bridge connecting the two girls. "In fact, I'm gonna end this right now! You're gonna regret not taking the chance to defeat me earlier!" the blonde formed her clan's signature hand seal, much to the shock of her opponent and her teammates.

"Look, I know you're frustrated, but that's completely pointless. **Shintenshin no Jutsu** , your clan's favourite jutsu. Extremely powerful, but it has major flaws. First, the chakra that you dispel into your opponent to control them can only go straight, and it travels very slowly. Secondly, even if your chakra misses me, it'll still take some time for it to return to you, which leaves your body in a vulnerable state."

"So what? I won't know unless I try!"

"If you miss, it's all over. You do know that, right?" at that, Sakura began running to the left of Ino.

" **Shintenshin no Jutsu**!" as Ino finished calling out her jutsu, her body slumped to the ground and Sakura stopped running. A few tension-filled seconds went by before Sakura finally spoke.

"What an unfortunate choice… Ino. Now, you're- " Sakura gasped when she realised she was unable to move her legs. Looking down, her eyes widened when she noticed the strands of Ino's hair wrapped around her ankles, glowing with blue chakra. Sakura turned her attention towards the girl herself. Her hands were pressed flat against the strands of hair in front of her, which must have been the origin of the chakra trap.

"Ha, you fell for it, Sakura. I've got you right where I want you," said Ino as she replaced her hands with her foot. She was lucky that Sakura had used up her chakra on that punch she made against the ground, or else she could have broken through the trap easily. The blonde then used her hands to form the Yamanaka signature hand seal again. "There's no way I'll miss now. **Shintenshin no Jutsu**!" For the second time, Ino's body went limp

' _Wow, that was easier than I thought. Now I can just raise Sakura's hand and tell the proctor that_ I _give up,'_ Ino thought smugly from within Sakura's mind, however suddenly she felt an awful pain in her head. _'What the hell is that?!'_

" **Damn it Ino! If you don't get out of my head** _ **right now**_ **, I swear I'll rip you apart!"**

Ino cried out as her inner self was lifted up by a giant, angry black and white Sakura. _'Oh, come on! This can't be happening!'_

" **I am** _ **not**_ **gonna let you win so easily, you hear me?! I'll won't have you make a fool of me in front of Naruto!** _ **I'd rather die**_ **!"**

' _What did you just say?!'_

" **GET OUT!"**

Ino's body was knocked onto its back as her chakra was forcibly returned to her body, much to the immense shock of those that knew what her jutsu was capable of. As for Sakura, she was sent to her knees from the exhaustion of expelling the blonde from her mind. Hayate was unsure of whether he should end the match or not, but when the two girls began to pick themselves up from the ground, he decided to let it play out a little longer.

"What, _the actual fuck_ , was THAT?!" demanded Ino.

"My willpower, Pig," in a last attempt to win, the two girls ran towards each other, their fists ready to land the final blow on the other.

' _Although Ino's lack of chakra herself contributed to her failed jutsu, it's still incredible that Sakura was able to force her out using her willpower alone, no chakra to help her. With neither of them having any chakra left, the winner will be decided with just brute force,'_ commented Kakashi as he observed the final moments of the match below.

"This ends now!" they both exclaimed simultaneously, seconds before their fists landed on each other's face, their headbands coming clean off in the exchange. Before the two kunoichi even hit the ground, the occupants of the room knew that the match was over.

"Since both combatants are unable to continue, I declare this match a draw. Neither of them will continue onto the third test!" shouted Hayate as the girls' Jōnin sensei collected them and their fallen headbands.

As soon as Kakashi and Asuma returned to the walkway with the unconscious girls, Team 7, 10 and Rock Lee surrounded them, Team 10 and Lee bombarding them with questions. The two Jōnin gently placed the girls on the ground with their backs against the wall, shushing the boys.

"I have no doubt that the two of them are fine," said Asuma as he bandaged Ino's injured hand. Kakashi nodded in agreement.

"They'll likely wake up in a few moments, just give them some time," Kakashi and Asuma stood up and ushered the Genin back towards the railing to watch the next match. "Oh, I almost forgot," Kakashi pulled out the headbands he picked up from the floor and handed them to Naruto. "Look after these until they wake up, okay? I'm going to talk to Gai. One of his students is fighting now, after all."

Before Naruto could voice her protests, her sensei disappeared in a puff of smoke, only to reappear at the other end of the walkway.

' _Bastard uses a jutsu to move a few metres? Tch,'_ the Jinchūriki reluctantly sat down between Ino and Sakura, however instead of waiting for them to wake up, she decided to use this time to see if she could finally contact the Kyūbi.

* * *

 _ **Inside her Mind…**_

' _Kurama!'_ yelled Naruto as she ran down the long corridors of the familiar sewer. She followed the path she remembered taking the first time she was brought here until she came across a huge room with the Kyūbi's cage. _'Kurama! Can you hear me!'_ she yelled again, running up to the bars of the cage.

" **N…Naruto…** " she heard a faint whisper from the cage before as Kurama, in human form, came out from the shadows and collapsed. The Uzumaki gasped when her eyes caught sight of the large white snake wrapped around Kurama's torso, its fangs digging deep into the woman's neck. Feeling rage consume her at the image, Naruto growled.

' _Get. Away. From. Her,'_ and just like that, the snake was gone. Naruto's eyes widened at how suspiciously easy that was, but when she felt the seal Kakashi put on her neck tingle, she knew that was the cause.

During the match between Sakura and Ino, the man had explained to her that the seal was now linked to her willpower. Instead of the Curse Mark taking over, it would only activate if she wanted it to. Witnessing the power she had over the snake that was constricting Kurama, Naruto was relieved to realise that she now had control over how it affected her and her companion. That relief diminished slightly when she noticed the same snake curled around one of the cage's bars, and she became even more disappointed when her efforts at getting it to disappear again were failing.

" **Naruto, don't bother. That thing's grip on you is too strong** ," said the Kyūbi as she slowly began to heal the bite marks on her neck. Naruto immediately rushed over to check on her.

' _Are you okay? When I couldn't speak to you, I got worried but never had a chance to check what was going on until now.'_

" **It's because of that** _ **thing**_ ," she said, pointing at the white snake, which just stared at them. " **It came from the mark Orochimaru gave you. It's part of him, which is now in here. It may take some time, but if you let me gather up my strength, I can burn it away. Of course, that would cause you a lot of pain, but it's worth it to not have that creature here** ," Kurama snarled at the snake, the snake hissing back.

' _It's not causing you any harm now, is it?'_

" **Well no, but-** "

' _Then leave it.'_

" **What?! Why?!** "

' _Kurama, I was able to take out someone that was giving Team 10 a hard time like it was nothing, and I managed to scare his teammates into fleeing. Imagine what I could do if I learned how to use it to the best of its abilities?'_

" **Naruto, you don't know what you're saying**."

' _But I do!'_ the Uzumaki fired back as she got up to begin pacing in front of Kurama. The Tailed Beast herself stood up to watch. _'This is exactly what I wanted. I wanted to get stronger, and Orochimaru just gave me that! Kakashi-sensei thought I was unconscious when he and Orochimaru were talking, but I wasn't and I heard everything. Orochimaru knows I want to leave the village, and I'm sure he can give me a way.'_

" **Okay, I'll admit it, you're right. Orochimaru is probably the only one that can get you out of here, but the price you'll have to pay… it won't be worth it. That snake over there? It's a portion of his soul. He uses it to take control of the host, and if it wasn't for Kakashi,** _ **a Konoha ninja**_ **, Orochimaru would be able to control your mind and body with a mere snap of his fingers** ," Kurama moved to stand in front of Naruto and placed her hands on the girl's shoulders, looking into her eye. " **He wants your body, literally. Orochimaru is essentially immortal because he uses a jutsu he created to transfer his consciousness into the body of another, that body almost always has a Curse Mark. Why? Because that means they won't fight Orochimaru if Orochimaru doesn't want them to. He's a sick bastard!**

" **You know he made this Curse Mark on your neck just for Jinchūrikis, right? It's made to specifically attack the Tailed Beast** ," Kurama pointed at the white snake again, " **so that it can't prevent the mark from taking control of the host. It also cuts all contact between the Jinchūriki and the Tailed Beast, and if the Jinchūriki wanted to use some of the Tailed Beast's chakra, guess what? That** _ **thing**_ **drains it from us and feeds it to the host. We basically become not just your chakra slave, but Orochimaru's as well**!" the Kyūbi was finally able to breath when she finished her lecture.

' _But we don't have that problem now!'_ Naruto gestured to the seal that was placed around the mark, much to the frustration of Kurama.

" **Yes! And who put that there? Kakashi! And what is Kakashi?** _ **A Konoha ninja**_ **! You know, the kind of person you want nothing to do with and who you choose Orochimaru over**!"

' _Damn it Kurama, I've made my decision!'_

" **FINE**!" the Beast yelled as Naruto was removed from the cage by a sudden gust of wind. As soon as the Uzumaki passed the gate's threshold, a pillar of bright red flames consumed the Kyūbi, revealing the beast's true nine-tailed form. " **Don't listen to me then. Enjoy having your body snatched**!"

' _Kurama, wait- '_ Naruto's plea fell on deaf ears as she was awoken from her brief nap. She was still sitting in between Ino and Sakura, and it didn't look like anyone had disturbed them.

"Naruto? You awake now?" the blonde heard a voice from her left ask. The Uzumaki turned to face Sakura, who was now awake and after a brief look to her right, she realised Ino, too, was awake.

' _Damn.'_

Naruto quickly held the girls' headbands in front of their faces before they could say anything else, and when they took them from Naruto, the Uzumaki jumped to her feet and made her way towards Kakashi and Sasuke who were watching the end of the fight between Tenten and Temari. The former of the two had just landed on the latter's folded fan, which even Naruto had to flinch at. That signalled the end of the fight, Hayate declaring Temari the winner. According to Sasuke, Tenten had been extremely unlucky to get matched with Temari as the girl seemed to be able to counter every single one of Tenten's moves.

When Naruto looked back down to the fight, she accidently made eye-contact with the winner. Temari gave Naruto a wink and a smirk, just as Ino and Sakura reached the railing to look down as well. The rivals both glared at Temari, which just seemed to amuse her even more, before the Sand kunoichi made her way back up the opposite walkway.

Naruto just sighed at Temari's behaviour, having been completely oblivious to her fellow Konoha kunoichis' reactions.

* * *

 **A/N: And that's another chapter! It's kind of weird how I can go months without posting, but when I do, it's usually two chapters posted within a day of each other. Strange.**

 **The reason for Kurama's reaction is because she cares about Naruto a lot, feeling guilty about the death of Naruto's parents and the suffering she's been through as a child. Those aren't the only reasons, of course. She's grown to admire Naruto's resilience and strength, which just made her like her even more (she won't admit it though).**


	17. Becoming A Summoner

_Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto or any of its characters_

' _Thinking.'  
_ "Talking."  
" **Kyūbi/Jutsu**."

* * *

 **Chapter 17: Becoming A Summoner**

"First of all, congratulations to all of you for winning your matches, you will all be going forward to the third test," the Sandaime Hokage was standing in front of the preliminary winners with Anko and Hayate at his side. _'Five from Leaf, three from Sand and one from Sound,'_ he thought with a smile. "Now, allow me to explain what the third and final test consists of…

"Hayate is going to come to each of you with a box, and in that box are folded pieces of paper with a name on it," as he said that, the preliminary proctor pulled out a small wooden box from his pouch and approached Dosu, who had won against Chōji. "I want you all to pick a random piece of paper and look at the name, however if you pick your own or pick the name of someone that has already been called out, just put it back and select another one. That name shall be the one you fight in the third test, which will begin exactly one month from now."

"We're not going to fight here and now? Why?" asked Neji who was feeling slightly irked at that.

"Well you see, it takes some time to send out the summons to all the important figures invited to become members of the audience that will watch your battles, and it also gives you time to hone your skills in preparation. Dosu, if you please," Hiruzen nodded at the only Sound ninja. The boy merely rolled his eye and reached into the box, pulling out a piece of paper.

"Nara Shikamaru," he said with a shrug, and the Hokage gestured for the two to step to the side. Next, Kankurō called out Shino, Temari called a blank (much to her disappointment and to others' jealousy), Gaara called out Sasuke which left Naruto and Neji.

"Can I ask a question?" Shikamaru raised his head from his place beside Dosu.

"You may," replied the Hokage.

"If this is supposed to be like a tournament, which I'm sure it is, does that mean only one of us gets to be a Chūnin?"

"No. Your matches are going to be judged by various people, including me, the Jōnin leaders and the Kazekage. Through evaluation, we will decide who will be granted the rank of Chūnin, that could be any number of you. Might even be all of you, or none of you."

"Even if someone loses the first round?"

"Yes, even if that were to happen."

"Then what's the point of trying to win and fight more matches? Is one not enough?" asked Naruto.

"For some people, one match might be enough, but others may need more time to effectively display all their skills. Any more questions?" asked the Sandaime Hokage, and when he received silence as an answer, he dismissed the winners, telling those on the walkways to leave after, so there wouldn't be a fight to get out the doors first.

Naruto joined the rest of the winners in leaving through the large double doors, the same ones they used to enter before the preliminaries began. Just as she passed the exit, she felt a tap on her shoulder. "What?" she asked as she turned around, expecting to be faced with Sasuke.

"Happy with being matched with Neji?" inquired the Sand kunoichi who seemed to love taking every chance to annoy the smaller blonde.

' _There are millions of nerves in the human body, and somehow, Temari's presence alone manages to get on every single fucking one of mine,'_ the Uzumaki thought, but she decided she would humour Temari, if only to prevent her from realising the effect she had on the Jinchūriki. "I suppose I'm fine with it. What about you? You get a pass on the first round, which lets you see what kind of things your second round opponent can do, without them being able to see yours."

"Well, I'm definitely not complaining, that's for sure," Temari began to walk beside Naruto as they both made their way to the exit. "I heard that Hyūga Neji is a genius though, you think you can take him? Your match with Akadō Yoroi didn't seem to be all that if you ask me."

"That's because I was experiencing an… _annoyance_ , so until I got things under control I was limited to just my taijutsu against the guy that could literally absorb my chakra with a touch."

"Fair enough. Can I expect to see your full capabilities in the third test? It's just too bad I couldn't see them first-hand, that would've been fun, don't you think?"

" _Immensely_ ," Naruto replied before stopping at the exit door. "I should wait for the rest of my team here, you should go ahead with your brothers."

' _Although I'd love to stay and find out if her beast is as emotionally explosive as Gaara's, she's right, I should get going,'_ Temari thought to herself as she gave Naruto a nod. "You should try and find me before the third test starts, maybe we could talk some more."

"I wouldn't bet on that," replied Naruto before she tilted her head in order to look past Temari, seeing her team approach. Obviously Sasuke had decided to remain behind earlier so Kakashi and Sakura could catch up to him. Speaking of the pink and red themed girl, she was seemingly walking a bit faster than the boys. Any second now, and she would be right next to Naruto.

The Sand kunoichi followed Naruto's gaze, chuckling when she too spotted the Konoha kunoichi making her way towards them. "Oh well, it was nice seeing you again, Naruto-chan," the darker blonde made sure she emphasised the honorific just as the Haruno reached them.

"Temari, right?" Sakura asked, looking like she wished she was matched up with the older kunoichi. "Sorry to intrude, but my team needs Naruto. Congrats on winning!" faster than Temari could blink, the Haruno had dragged a very confused Naruto over to Kakashi and Sasuke, the Uchiha looking as equally confused as the Uzumaki, and Kakashi just looking like he was smirking underneath the mask he never took off.

* * *

 _ **A Few Days Later…**_

Once the preliminary rounds had ended, Naruto had decided to head to her apartment to get some much-needed rest, and to try and make things up to the Kyūbi. After a full day of refusing to talk to her, Kurama had decided to allow Naruto to make amends. This, of course, had involved forcing Naruto to read many ladies swimsuit magazines so the Kyūbi could then use the Uzumaki's memories of them to create her own physical copies inside the cage she was confined to. When the demon fox was satisfied, she agreed to help Naruto with her training, promising to teach her a new jutsu.

" **You already know a fire jutsu, how about I teach you a wind jutsu this time? After all, the wind element comes from you directly, not from me, so it makes sense for you to have some in your arsenal**."

' _Sounds good,'_ Naruto said to the Kyūbi. A few minutes ago, the Uzumaki had stretched herself out on her couch and closed her eyes, willing herself to be transported in front of the Kyūbi's cage in her mind. The Tailed Beast had greeted the Genin in her human form, wearing her usual red kimono. _'So, what kind of wind jutsu are you going to teach me?'_

" **I was thinking Shinkūjin? It allows you to exhale wind-infused chakra onto a weapon in order to increase its range and sharpness. For example, if for some reason your Futsunushi wasn't working, you could use it to create a sword with a kunai. You can also use it to create a fūma shuriken with a regular one**."

' _That actually sounds pretty cool. All right, show me.'_

* * *

 _ **Streets on Konoha, A Day Later…**_

"Kakashi-sensei!" shouted Naruto as she ran up to her team's leader. He was walking with Gai, the two of them just coming from the hospital after visiting Lee. Gaara had severely injured Lee's arm and leg, and that on top of what his body went through opening some of the eight inner gates, he had been hospitalised and put under a medically induced coma to give his body time to heal.

"What is it, Naruto?" the masked man asked.

"So, for the tournament coming up, I was hoping you could help me train. Y'know, taijutsu and stuff."

"Oh, um… sorry Naruto, tomorrow I'm taking Sasuke on a trip to a nearby mountain to train, so we won't be disturbed."

"You mean you're picking Sasuke over me? Why can't you take me with you?"

"I'm afraid that's not possible, since I would be teaching you both completely different things, therefore only be able to devote half of my time to each of you. It would just give you both a disadvantage," that made Gai frown. He felt Kakashi's choice was rather un-youthful, but decided not to comment since it wasn't his team, and therefore none of his business.

"Tch, fine. I'm used to not being someone's first choice. Cause of the demon thing, ya know?" before Kakashi could reassure her that the 'demon thing' was not why he was teaching Sasuke instead of her, Naruto had already ninja vanished, leaving the Hatake to wonder if what he felt now was what other people felt when he used that jutsu on them.

* * *

Naruto sighed as she kicked another pebble into the river that ran right through Konoha's hot spring. On the way there, she had debated with herself whether she should try looking to other people for training. Asuma, Kurenai, Gai? Too busy with their own students. Ibiki? He specialises in interrogation techniques, nothing that could help her. Anko? No way. That woman would just shove her straight into the Forest of Death for the whole month. Just then, the Uzumaki heard a giggle coming from around the corner of the bathhouse, so of course she followed the noise.

When Naruto turned the corner, she spotted a man with long, wild white hair looking through a hole in the bamboo fence. The blonde approached him from behind, curious about what he was up to, when she suddenly heard more giggling coming from the other side of the fence. Feminine giggling.

"Are you a pervert or something?" asked Naruto, stepping back a little when the man jumped up in surprise. Whirling around, the man pointing a finger at her.

"Who the hell are you supposed to be? No, scratch that, just shut up. You'll give away my position if you speak any louder, which will ruin my research."

"Oh, your _research_. I get it. So, it would be a shame if I… just… screamed?"

" _Don't you dare_ ," he warned her, and just as Naruto took in a deep breath, he leapt towards her and placed one of his hands on her mouth. "Look, kid, what is it you want? Money?" the old man asked her, but when he saw the gauze on her neck, he hesitated, remembering what his old sensei told him. "You're Naruto…"

The Jinchūriki's eyes narrowed, suddenly extremely suspicious. The girl grabbed the white haired man's hand and pulled it off of her face, jumping away from him. "I don't know you, so I don't know how in Kami's name you know me, but I'm warning you…"

"Oh, calm down," he said crossing his arms and huffing. "I'm not going to hurt you. My name is Jiraiya, the Gama Sennin. I'm one of the- "

"Legendary Sannin," Naruto finished for him. "Like Orochimaru?"

"Uh, yeah. Orochimaru was my teammate, along with Tsunade. He's the one that gave you that Curse Mark, right?"

"How did you know about that?" she asked, placing a hand over the gauze.

"Although I spend most of my time outside the village, I'm still in frequent contact with the Hokage. He's told me a lot about you. I've also heard that you'll be training for the Chūnin tournament in a month. Want some help with that?" Jiraiya grinned. "I am the best, of course."

"Wait, you're offering to train me? Just like that?"

"Sure, why not?"

' _This way, I not only get to train my late student's daughter, but I also get to keep an eye on that Curse Mark.'_

* * *

 _ **A Few Hours Later…**_

"Y'know, I'm impressed. You were able to learn and pretty much perfect water walking within just a few hours!" exclaimed Jiraiya as he gave Naruto a pat on the back.

"I… guess I'm a fast learner? Haha…" Naruto laughed nervously. _'I don't need to tell him that we've already worked on that.'_

" **What he doesn't know won't hurt him**."

The legendary Sannin looked up at the sun, determining that it was just a few of hours past noon. "All right, since we've got the time, how about I teach you something really cool?"

"Huh? Like what?"

"Watch," he said before biting into his thumb, piercing the skin, and then swiping the bleeding finger across the palm of his hand. " **Kuchiyose no Jutsu**!" Jiraiya slammed his hand flat on the ground where a black seal appeared, not unlike Naruto's own on her stomach in appearance. Suddenly, a large puff of smoke appeared, which dispersed seconds later, revealing a toad that was abnormally big. It could easily fit multiple Naruto clones in its mouth, which to said girl, was a disturbing thought.

The toad placed a scroll that was about the length of Naruto's head to her toes on the ground in front of the girl. After Jiraiya gave the go-ahead to open it, Naruto did, revealing the multiple signatures and fingerprints made in blood on the inside of the scroll. "What's this?" she asked him.

"It's a summoning contract for the toads. Just sign your name and fingerprints in your own blood next to the free space there."

"Uh… toads?" she asked incredulously.

"Do you not see what I'm standing on? Yes, toads!" when he saw that Naruto was still unsure, he sighed. "Look, the toad contract is one of the most powerful kinds of summoning contracts out there, along with the slug and snake, which is why all three of the legendary Sannin have a contract for those particular summons. You may think I'm biased by saying that the toad contract is the best one, but I'm not. The toads are the type of summons more suited to battle, which is your style."

"Um, that sounds great but… I'll go with snakes," seeing Jiraiya begin to show panic on his face, Naruto quickly clarified. "Anko, a Tokubetsu Jōnin in the village, has a contract with the snakes and I kinda already promised her that if I was ever going to have a summoning contract, it'd be with them. So… thanks, but no thanks."

"Oh…" the Sannin tried to hide his disappointment, but his voice gave it away. "Well, that's all right I suppose. Tell you what, you go and find this Anko and sign the snake contract with her. In a week, meet me back here and we can move on to something else, okay? Probably your taijutsu, since I doubt your ninjutsu is lacking."

"Yeah, sounds good."

"Remember, one week!"

* * *

Anko let out a satisfied sigh after finishing her seventh portion of dango, her favourite treat from her favourite tea shop. Waving a hand to the cute waitress to let her know Anko was done and was ready to pay, the Konoha T.I specialist put on her signature trench coat and pulled out her wallet, making sure to leave a generous tip, as usual. After leaving the tea shop, Anko decided to head to her best friend's apartment which she did most Friday nights.

Yūhi Kurenai was the leader of Team 8, one of this year's Genin teams, which had surprised most other Jōnins since Kurenai had only passed the Jōnin exam fairly recently. _'That just means 'Nai-chan is talented,'_ thought Anko, 'Nai-chan being her preferred nickname for the woman. It was no secret to those that knew Anko that the Tokubetsu Jōnin harboured a crush for the Genjutsu mistress, except of course the Genjutsu mistress herself. In fact, when Naruto was young and had recently met Anko, the woman often took the young girl to Kurenai's apartment with her (although not by choice, the Uzumaki just kept following her, despite Anko's attempts to lose her throughout the village) and as soon as she witnessed how the T.I specialist behaved around the Jōnin, she had tried to 'subtly' set them up. How, you may ask?

Pranks.

The Mitarashi groaned at one specific method Naruto had tried to use to get Kurenai to fall in love with Anko. _'It took me DAYS to find all those love notes in 'Nai-chan's favourite places. Why did she have to have_ so _many?'_ She still had nightmares about Kurenai finding one she missed and seeing Naruto's crude drawings of them 'doing the do', as the young girl had eloquently put it. Speaking of the troublemaker…

"Anko!" yelled Naruto as she jumped down from a nearby tree, landing just in front of the purple haired woman. "I've been looking for you. I'm gonna let you do it."

"'Do it'?" suddenly, Anko gasped, stars lighting up in her eyes. "Please tell me you're gonna let me practise that new interrogation jutsu I came up with?! I _still_ haven't been able to try it out on a conscious person, and Ibiki won't let me use the prisoners! Some bullshit about ' _the rules_ ' and ' _ethics_ '."

"No, no, no, 'it' as in me signing the snake contract."

"Oh," Anko felt the crushing disappointment for only a few seconds before getting excited again. "Wait, really?! You want to sign it?!"

"Uh huh."

"Great! Come on, we can do it at 'Nai-chan's!" ignoring Naruto's protests, Anko picked up the Genin and threw her over her shoulder before breaking into a sprint. _'This is the best! Day! Ever!'_

* * *

"'Nai-chan!" Anko shouted, kicking open the door to Kurenai's apartment. After the first few times of Anko breaking the door in her excitement to see the Jōnin, Kurenai had learned to leave the door unlocked at this time every week so that when Anko kicked it, there was no resistance as the door would just swing open, intact. "Naruto's gonna let me sign her to the snakes!"

"Oh, that's… lovely," Kurenai commented. "Anko, could I talk to you for a moment?"

"Of course!" the T.I specialist dropped Naruto on the Yūhi's couch before following the Jōnin into her bedroom, trying not to have _thoughts_. The Uzumaki just shrugged and picked up a cookie from the plate that was on the coffee table. Kurenai usually laid them out for her and Anko on these nights.

Once Anko shut the door behind her, Kurenai cast a Genjutsu on the room so all Naruto would hear is faint mumbling. As soon as that was done, the dark haired woman sighed before turning to Anko and slapping her arm. " _Are you insane_?!"

"Ow! What was that for?"

"Naruto has a _Curse Mark_. Don't you think signing her to the snakes will just put her one step closer to that _monster_?!"

"'Nai-chan, calm down! It's not like he could do anything without me knowing about it. I'm signed to the snakes too, remember? And I know which ones are more loyal to Orochimaru, and which ones are more loyal to me. I'll be able to tell Naruto which ones she needs to steer clear from," seeing that Kurenai was still unconvinced, she pulled the woman into a hug. "'Nai-chan, this is me you're talking to. You know I would _never_ put Naruto in any danger."

Kurenai mumbled something into Anko's shoulder.

"What was that? I couldn't hear you."

The Yūhi sighed, lifting her face from Anko's shoulder and wrapping her arms around her waist. "Yeah, I know," she said before chuckling. "It's funny, actually. You really care about her, don't you?"

"Yup!" said the Tokubetsu Jōnin cheerfully, pulling away from Kurenai so she could rest her hands on the Genjutsu mistress's arms. "I care about her almost like I care about you!"

Kurenai laughed, not noticing the pain Anko was trying to hide in her eyes. "All right, we better get back to her anyway," Kurenai said as she dispelled the Genjutsu and left the room, the Mitarashi following right behind her.

"Let's get down to business, then," before Naruto could ask what the two were talking about, Anko had bitten into her thumb the same way Jiraiya had, but instead of swiping it on her palm, she rolled up her sleeve and swiped down a tattoo on her forearm and used some hand seals.

' _That's how Orochimaru did it…'_

" **Kuchiyose no Jutsu**!" right next to Anko appeared a snake, larger than a normal one but not nearly as large as the toad Jiraiya had summoned. It was up to the purple haired woman's waist in length, and its scales were a dark grey. In its mouth was a scroll the same size as the one that was given to Naruto by the Sannin's toad.

The T.I specialist took the scroll from the snake who sat unmoving, placing it on the ground, the snake just staring at Naruto as she moved to kneel down in front of the scroll. Anko opened the summoning scroll, revealing the multiple signatures of the people that signed the scroll. "So, as you can see, I was the last one to sign this," the woman said, pointing to the most recent blood stains. Kurenai sat on her couch, watching attentively.

"All I have to do it sign this empty spot next to yours with my blood, right? And leave my fingerprints?"

"Y-yes! How did you…?"

Naruto just waved in dismissal. "I'll tell you later," she said before biting into her thumb and signing her name on the scroll, leaving her bloody fingerprints below it. "Am I done?"

"Yeah, you're done," she assured, rolling the scroll back up and giving it back to the snake. The snake took it in its mouth before turning to Naruto and nodding, disappearing a second later.

"What was that about?"

"It was probably just welcoming you to the club or something."

"'The club'?"

"You know what I mean. 'Nai-chan! You keep the tea leaves in the same place?" she asked as she stood up, making her way to the kitchen and opening up the cupboard on the far right.

"You know I do, Anko."

* * *

 _ **The Next Day…**_

"Show me what you can do," Anko ordered Naruto as they stood in one of the many training grounds. It had taken Naruto an hour of pleading to get the woman to change her mind about taking them to the Forest of Death, but luckily for Naruto, she had been successful. To use the snake summoning jutsu, the summoner needed the summoning seal tattooed onto their arm **[1]** , however Anko had just painted it on Naruto's right forearm as a temporary solution until the Uzumaki was ready for the real thing, "and remember, think small. You don't want to start off with something you can't handle just yet, and if you think you're about to summon a snake that feels like Orochimaru, cancel the jutsu as fast as possible."

Swiping her blood down the fake tattoo as Anko had shown her, Naruto went through the hand seals and shouted, " **Kuchiyose no Jutsu**!" In a puff of smoke, a snake the same size as Naruto herself appeared beside her. Its scales were a deep shade of red and its eyes were black. The creature looked at Anko first before realising that it wasn't her that had summoned it. Turning to its left, the snake stared at Naruto, concluding that the new and unfamiliar chakra that had been used to summon it belonged to her.

"Wow, that's impressive for your first try. I was almost expecting a tiny little thing the size of my finger."

"Nice to know you have so much confidence in me," the Uzumaki turned to the snake, its eyes never having left her form, which definitely creeped her out. "What now?" she asked. Just then, the snake moved, curling itself around Naruto's legs. The Jinchūriki cried out, looking to Anko for help.

"Naruto, it's okay! It's just getting a feel of you before it decides if you're worthy for the contract."

"And if I'm not?!"

"Um…"

"ANKO!" Naruto yelled at her, but her rage quickly turned into panic when she realised the snake had wrapped itself around her arms as well, pinning them to her body. Thankfully, it didn't go any higher than her abdomen or else the Uzumaki may have found herself unable to breath. The snake summon raised its head and looked directly into Naruto's eye, and despite the girl's instincts telling her to look away, she was made to stare right back by some unknown force. "What's going on?!"

"Oh, right… probably should've warned you about this. Your initial summon has to make first contact with you by creating a kind of 'bond'. Basically, what it's doing is searching through your memories, finding any weaknesses you have and determining whether you're more of a hindrance or an asset to the snakes. Don't worry, I'm sure you're the latter."

A few agonising minutes later, the snake finally relaxed, uncurling itself from Naruto's body and moving into the same spot as before. The Jinchūriki sighed in relief before being squeezed again, this time by Anko. "Congratulations, kid," she said, letting go after a couple more seconds.

"Thanks. Would've liked to have known what to expect, though."

"Where's the fun in that?" Anko replied with a grin. "Now you can send this one back," she continued, pointing to the red snake with her thumb. The Uzumaki used the releasing jutsu to send the snake back in a puff of smoke, slightly happy to see it gone. "Tomorrow we can try summoning bigger snakes, different kinds as well. Sound good?"

Naruto nodded. "Can we go get some ramen now? I'm starving."

"Sure, but we're splitting the bill. Maybe we can discuss when you'll get the tattoo while we eat?"

"Deal."

* * *

 **A/N: I debated whether I should just cut it off here or keep going and fit in the beginning of the tournament, but in the end I decided to save that for the next chapter.**

 **As you can see this is the first major change in comparison to the first MtHtS. Instead of having Naruto go straight for the toad contract, like in canon, I've decided to give her the snake contract which also lets me write about some more Anko-Naruto bonding, as well as throwing in a bit of Kurenai. I originally wasn't going to add her in, but since Anko/Kurenai was so popular in the background pairings poll, I put a bit of an emphasis on her here. She WILL be getting more text-time (equivalent to screen-time in TV) later on, although it will mainly be with Anko.**

 **Something I want to ask you all about though is how you would like me to post, because as I mentioned in the author's notes of the last chapter, I seem to go quite some time without posting, and then when I do its 2 or more chapters in succession (usually). Would you all prefer for me to keep doing this? Or if I do this again would you prefer me to hold onto the extra chapters and post them at a later date? I know a lot of fanfic writings have a schedule where they post maybe 1-2 chapter every month, and usually that's because they're able to write in advance. I've always just posted as soon as I finished proof-reading.**

 **Anyway, if you do have a preference just shoot me a PM or leave it in a review, whatever works.**

 **[1] – I'm unsure of whether or not a snake summoner actually needs the tattoo. I tried googling it, but came up with nothing, just a wiki page written by someone (poorly written, might I add) that said it was like a shortcut. Obviously I didn't want to bet on it being legit, so for the purposes of this fanfic (and for the purpose of Naruto getting a sick tattoo) I'm making it an essential.**


	18. Uzumaki vs Hyūga

_Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto or any of its characters_

' _Thinking.'  
_ "Talking."  
" **Kyūbi/Jutsu**."

 **Chapter 18: Uzumaki vs Hy** **ūga**

"Ladies and gentleman, thank you for coming to Konohagakure's Chūnin Selection Exam!" shouted the Sandaime Hokage from the Kage box. "We will now begin the main matches with the eight that passed the preliminaries!"

Naruto chuckled from her place in the middle of the arena. Almost immediately after entering, she noticed the Konoha citizens glaring at her, some even 'booing'.

"Before we start, there are a couple of things I need to tell you all," said the third test proctor. "Firstly, my name is Shiranui Genma. I've taken over as proctor due to Hayate suffering from a sudden illness," lied Genma, however he had been ordered not to reveal the true reason until the investigation into Hayate's death had concluded. "Secondly, it appears that Kinuta Dosu has dropped out, therefore Nara Shikamaru, you will now be fighting Sabaku no Temari. Any questions?" the Sand kunoichi shrugged, however her face showed clear irritation, as did Shikamaru's. Naruto just smirked, knowing about Shikamaru's hatred of fighting girls. "Okay, good. We can now commence the first match. Uzumaki Naruto, Hyūga Neji, please stay down here. The rest of you, head towards the waiting room upstairs."

' _I wonder where Sasuke is,'_ thought Naruto as she faced her opponent.

"Good luck, try not to get beaten too badly," said Shikamaru as he passed her and Shino giving her a light pat on the arm. He never was too verbal. Even Temari gave her a nod as she walked by.

"Listen up you two. Although the landscape is different, the rules are still the same as in the preliminaries; there are no rules. The match ends when someone dies, gives up or I believe it's over. Understand?" when he received a 'yes' from both of the combatants, Genma began the match. "Begin!"

Since the citizens that had arrived from other nations became silent, the 'booing' of the Konoha villagers became louder, and it only took a second for Neji to realise why. "They were never addressing the ninja from Sand, were they? They were shouting at you. Why?" he asked, getting into a fighting stance. The Uzumaki followed her opponent's lead, getting into her own.

"Are you here to talk or fight?" she replied, summoning her katana and pulling it out of its sheath.

" **Remember what I told you**?"

' _Yeah, of course,'_ the Jinchūriki thought just as Neji activated his dōjutsu. Just as she was about to begin attacking him, the Hyūga lowered his arms slightly.

"So, that is what you hide behind that mask. But what is that red chakra where your eye should be?" the genius narrowed his eyes. "Is it another dōjutsu?"

' _What could he be talking about?'_ wondered Ino and Sakura as they watched from the audience.

"Enough talking!" the Uzumaki yelled, running towards Neji with her sword drawn. The Hyūga pulled out a kunai in response, ready to deflect her attacks with one hand and close her tenketsu points with his other. When Neji was almost right in front of her, Naruto formed her free hand into a seal before lifting her katana up to her face. " **Fūton: Shinkūjin** ," as the blonde blew on the blade it started to become covered in a green-ish coloured wind. The wind swirled furiously around the katana's silvery blade, stopping at about half a foot past its tip.

Naruto's sword and Neji's kunai collided with a loud noise, sparking up excitement from parts of the crowd. The Hyūga lifted his arm, aiming to block the tenketsu point in Naruto's shoulder, but before he could make contact, the Uzumaki's free hand shot up faster than he could react to catch his wrist. "What?!" he exclaimed in confusion.

"I know _all_ about your tricky jutsu, Hyūga, and I'm not going to let you cut off my chakra so easily!" said Naruto, smirking when Neji pulled himself out of her grasp, jumping backwards so he could rethink his approach from a safe distance. This move shocked the crowd, not believing the Hyūga prodigy would be the one to retreat so soon. "Aw, what's wrong? I thought close combat was your _thing_?"

" **That's it, piss him off. If there's one thing that makes the Hyūga and the Uchiha alike, it's their pride**."

Naruto smiled and summoned enough **Kage Bunshin** to surround the Hyūga, and when she noticed his confusion, she decided to taunt him a little more. "Noticed it, have you?" said one Naruto.

"My chakra has been…"

"… equally distributed…

"… among them all. That's what makes…"

"… the **Kage Bunshin no Jutsu** …

"… so special," as the clones finished speaking, they also finished encircling Neji.

"If it weren't for my weapon, you wouldn't be able to tell which one of us was the real one," the original Naruto said as she stepped in front of the clones to join Neji in the circle, and with a quick snap of her fingers, they all rushed at him.

As the Hyūga was skilfully destroying each clone that came his way, all the Chūnin level and above ninja had to commend Naruto for being able to use such an advanced jutsu at that level. The shadow clone jutsu was a Jōnin level technique which was also deemed 'forbidden' due to how much chakra it consumed. An average Jōnin would only be able to summon five shadows clones at the most before succumbing to chakra exhaustion. Naruto's display just proved that she was no ordinary ninja, and she was not to be underestimated.

"It's useless," claimed Neji. "Your clones cannot strike me, my Byakugan gives me perfect three-sixty degree vision," he finished just as he destroyed the last clone, which just caused the Uzumaki to laugh. "What's so funny?" he demanded, his fists curling around the shuriken in his pouches.

"What's funny is that you don't _actually_ have vision that perfect, do you? That's just a lie you Hyūga use tell people to cover up your one weakness," at this, Neji gasped.

' _How does she-?'_ before he could finish his thought, he felt a sharp pain in his back which forced him onto his knees. _'My blind-spot!'_

"While you were distracted by my **Kage Bunshin** , I sent one of them into the tree to position itself where I knew it would be able to attack your…" instead of completing the sentence, Naruto just coughed, knowing that it would injure the Hyūga clan greatly for arguably their biggest secret to become known to their enemies.

"You could end this match right now… why don't you?" Neji asked while reaching for the black arrow that was sticking out of his back. "You know that every Hyūga in the crowd would jump in to end the match if you threatened to expose them," the Hyūga whispered to Naruto, groaning as he was finally able to pull the projectile out.

"Because," the Uzumaki approached Neji, stopping directly in front of him, "I enjoy fighting you," the genius cried out as Naruto kicked him in the face, sending him sprawling on the ground. The kunoichi then followed up by leaping into the air, bringing her sword down to pierce Neji's chest, however the boy rolled to avoid it. The Uzumaki then pulled the sword from the ground and attempted to stab the Hyūga again, only for him to dodge. This was repeated twice more before Neji was able to use his hands to push himself off the ground, and when Naruto tried to cut him with the weapon, he began to spin.

" **Hakkeshō Kaiten**!" much to the shock of the members of the Hyūga clan in the crowd, a dome made up of whirling blue chakra appeared around Neji which deflecting the Uzumaki's strike and also pushed her back a few metres. Naruto grinned at the jutsu, wondering when he was finally going to pull out a big one.

"Try that again," she said, dashing towards him with her blade raised. The Hyūga just glared at her, but did the jutsu again anyway believing it would have the same result. Expecting Naruto to be blown back again, the Hyūga was almost reduced to a state of shock when the wind-coated blade managed to stay pressed against the chakra dome, albeit shakily. Naruto grunted as she tried to push the blade's tip past the dome, and when the wind chakra began to do just that, the Hyūga let the jutsu finish. Naruto was once again blown back from the force of the dome exploding outwards in a final burst of chakra.

" **Well that was a bit stupid, don't you think**?"

' _I just wanted to see if it would work, and it looks like it did. Kind of,'_ Naruto replied to the Kyūbi and she stood up, the wind chakra having dispersed from her blade. _'At least it tired him out.'_

The Hyūga genius stood on shaky legs. Expelling all that chakra to push the Uzumaki away had come at a cost, but it wasn't over yet. _'I can't believe this girl is forcing me to use_ it _. At least it'll end this match for sure.'_

"Uzumaki…" Neji mumbled as he continued to breath heavily. Looking up, he made eye contact with her before smiling. "You're in range. **Hakke Rokujūyon Shō**."

Naruto gasped as the Hyūga suddenly appeared right in front of her spinning once and following up with a double strike to her chest. Next, it became four strikes, eight strikes, sixteen, thirty-two and finally, sixty-four. At the final strike, Naruto was knocked onto her back, her weapon disappearing. The Uzumaki quickly turned onto her side so she could release the blood from her mouth in a series of coughs.

"Uzumaki Naruto, the match is over. I've closed all of your tenketsu points, although I will admit, you were more than I expected. Nonetheless, you were fated to lose this match from the beginning, and no matter what, there was nothing you could do to change that," Neji turned to walk into the waiting room, ignoring the crowd as they chanted his name for defeating the 'Demon Child', however he hesitated when they suddenly stopped. Turning around, he was surprised to see the blonde getting to her feet. "I'm impressed, you shouldn't even be able to stand, but you should just quit. It's useless, you can't use your chakra anymore."

Ino felt like she was going to start crying. Seeing Naruto in so much pain… she had to look away before she cried out. Next to her, Sakura was clenching the material of her dress in her fists, glaring two holes into Neji's skull. It was only when the Jinchūriki began to laugh out loud again did the two girls start to relax, realising that their mutual crush wasn't in such bad shape after all.

Naruto got up onto her hands and knees. "You really think this is over?" she asked, looking up to face Neji. "Do you think I've just been doing nothing this past month? Did you not think I would research your clan's jutsu to the very last detail and come up with a backup plan to all of them? You're a _fool_."

"What are you talking about?!" demanded the genius as he watched Naruto stand up. "There is no 'backup plan' for this! Your chakra has been cut off!"

When Naruto formed the Rat hand seal, Neji just smiled, believing that the Uzumaki was merely bluffing in order to get him to let his guard down. "Why are you determined to continue fighting? You'll lose. If you give up now, I won't have to hurt you more."

The air around her began to heat up just a bit. The Hyūga frowned, wondering where the change in temperature was coming from, however when he activated his Byakugan, he had to step back in shock when he saw a bright red chakra begin to form at Naruto's feet, slowly climbing up her body in a mass of… tails? Eventually he didn't even have to use the Byakugan, the chakra was so dense!

' _So, this is her beast, then?'_ thought Temari when she noticed Gaara's hungry expression. _'Yeah, there's no doubt about it. The only question now is, is the number of chakra tails coming off of her a coincidence? Or could this girl actually hold the strongest Tailed Beast of them all?'_

Almost as soon as it began, it stopped. The chakra tails shrinking until they were non-existent, but before Neji could sigh in relief, Naruto's body slowly became consumed by the chakra. "Well? Did I surprise you?" she asked the Hyūga, smirking at his expression.

"How… how could this be possible? I closed your tenketsu points!"

"So you keep saying, and yet…" before Neji could blink, the blonde kunoichi had disappeared, only reappear next to him with speed that rivalled Lee's without his weights, "here I am."

Naruto smashed her fist into Neji's nose, smiling at the audible 'crack'. The genius was sent flying down to the other side of the arena, but before his body could touch the ground, Naruto was upon him again, this time kicking him where her arrow struck which sent him into the air. The crowd could only watch as one of their three favourites for tournament began his descent, seemingly unconscious.

"Proctor!" called Naruto. Genma took his eyes off of Neji just for a moment to look at Naruto, the senbon needle dropping from mouth when he saw the girl's visible eye. It was red instead of its normal blue. "I recommend you stop the match now," a naginata appeared in the blonde's hand, its long handle a black metal and its blade a shining silver. She rested it on the ground with the blade pointing up, right in the spot Neji was about to land, "because I'm going to _kill him_."

At Naruto's declaration, Genma jumped into the air above the naginata and caught the unconscious shinobi in his arms, landing into a crouch so he could place him on the ground. "This match is over, Uzumaki Naruto wins! Now can I get some medics down here?!"

The crowd seemed to be split; one half was still shouting obscenities at her, while the other was cheering her on giving them such a terrific first match. Meanwhile, the Genin in the waiting room were shocked, possibly even a tiny bit scared, save one. Gaara, of course, couldn't be more excited to taste her blood.

' _For once, I think I'd rather stay closer to Gaara…'_ thought Temari as she moved towards her brothers.

' _Man, what the hell was that? I don't remember Naruto even knowing how to summon that red chakra. It had 'bad news' written all over it,'_ Shikamaru watched Naruto as she came to stand next to him, leaning on the railing in front of her.

"It's Sasuke's match next, right? According to the rules, he'll lose by default if he doesn't show," commented the Uzumaki. Shikamaru just nodded, mimicking Naruto's position. Once the medic ninja had removed Neji from the arena, Genma ran up to the Kage box. "Probably asking permission to disqualify the teme."

"Probably, but I don't think he'll get it."

"Why do you think that?"

"It's Uchiha Sasuke, and he's fighting that guy," the Nara used his head to gesture to the youngest Sand sibling. "It's the match everyone's been looking forward to, some people only came here for it too. They won't cancel it," just as Shikamaru finished speaking, Genma addressed the audience.

"Due to the absence of Uchiha Sasuke, we will be postponing his match until he arrives!" the Tokubetsu Jōnin waited for the crowd to calm down before continuing. "We will now move onto- " Genma was cut off by the sudden appearance of a smoke cloud in the middle of the arena.

' _Took him long enough,'_ thought Naruto as the smoke cleared to reveal Sasuke and Kakashi, however a few seconds later Kakashi disappeared in another puff of smoke, leaving Sasuke. Gaara grinned, the sand from his gourd picking him up and placing in in front of the Uchiha.

"All right, since both combatants are here, we can begin the match!"

* * *

' _So, this is the sand Kakashi warned me about…'_ thought Sasuke as he observed it coming out of Gaara's gourd. "Come on," said Gaara as the sand finished pooling around his feet.

"All right," replied Sasuke before throwing three shuriken towards the Suna ninja. The sand effortlessly created a shield in front of Gaara, catching the shuriken and almost a second later, a clone of the Suna ninja emerged. Believing a direct approach may prove to be more beneficial, Sasuke began to run towards Gaara, but a blast of sand from the clone forced the Uchiha to jump into the air. Sasuke, noticing that the clone was about to return his weapons to him, activated his Sharingan and pulled out three more shuriken to deflect the ones now coming at him. The black haired shinobi aimed a spinning kick at the clone's head which was blocked by its arms, however the clone was unable to react to Sasuke's quick follow-up strike to its throat. With a yell, Sasuke destroyed the clone with an elbow strike to its head.

' _In just a month of training, this boy is almost as fast as Lee without his weights,'_ thought Gai from his seat next to his eternal rival. _'No…'_ he continued, _'he_ is _as fast as Lee.'_ The taijutsu master watched in awe as Sasuke was able to get past Gaara's defences simply by being quicker than the sand.

"Is that your sand armour then?" asked Sasuke, smirking at the cracks that appeared where he struck Gaara's face.

* * *

"Damn, he's fast," commented Shikamaru from the competitors' box. "Not gonna lie, I actually hate him more now. You know he's gonna be even more of an arrogant prick after this, right?"

"Yeah, I know," replied Naruto as she sighed, shaking her head in disappointment.

"I kinda feel bad for you since you're gonna be around him more than me, being on his team" the Nara chuckled before turning his attention back to the fight. Gaara had just summoned a dome of sand around himself and in response, the Uchiha has jumped to the end of the arena, his arm outstretched and aiming towards the ground. A few seconds later, a ball of lightning began to appear in Sasuke's hand.

' _Isn't that Kakashi-sensei's_ _ **Chidori**_ _?'_

" **Looks like it. I never thought he would ever teach that jutsu to someone**."

The Uchiha was then running towards the sand dome, the jutsu cutting into the ground beneath it and ripping it apart. The Leaf ninja let out a battle-cry as he came closer and closer to the dome, dodging the sand spikes that tried to stop him, before finally reaching his target and plunging his lightning-coated hand into the dome. " **Chidori**!"

* * *

Sasuke smirked as he regained his breath, his arm still embedded within the dome which was slowly becoming coated in Gaara's blood from the wound the Uchiha's jutsu had inflicted. He was feeling extremely smug at having been the only one to attack Gaara effectively, however his victory was short-lived as just a few moments later, a blood-curdling scream could be heard from the sand dome.

" _ **MY BLOOD**_!"

The Uchiha gasped in shock and tried to step away from the sand, but his arm was stuck. Sasuke kept trying to remove his arm with just pure strength alone, but when he realised that it was futile, he charged his arm up with lightning chakra again. Once again, the scream could be heard from the dome, making the audience members flinch. Fortunately for Sasuke, using his **Chidori** again worked and he was able to get away from the dome, just as a long, veined arm tried to grab him from within the sand. Just as quickly as the arm appeared, it disappeared.

Sasuke clenched his fists, preparing to fight again as the sand dome slowly started to fall apart, but when it didn't reveal the monster he was expecting, he relaxed a little bit. Instead, the sand broke apart to reveal a bleeding Gaara who seemed to be becoming more and more unstable as the match progressed.

' _This isn't the same look in his eyes as before…'_ thought Sasuke, however before he or his opponent could do anything else, feathers began to fall from seemingly nowhere. The Uchiha looked around in confusion as the audience began to collapse in their seats, but when he saw that most of the ninja were still awake and jumping up, he realised that it was a genjutsu. Before the jutsu could affect him as well, Sasuke activated his Sharingan again.

The black haired boy quickly looked up to the competitors' box just as Temari and Kankurō jumped down to reach their brother, Naruto following close behind. The two Suna ninja landed in crouched positions next to Gaara while Naruto landed next to Sasuke. Shikamaru also joined them a second later, albeit reluctantly so he stayed behind them.

"Gaara, you've used up too much chakra! We need to go!" said Kankurō as he helped his brother stand. "We can continue the mission later!"

"No… must… kill them!" the red haired boy looked up and glared at Naruto and Sasuke, which obviously caused him a great deal of pain as he groaned and clutched his head immediately after.

"You're not going anywhere!" shouted Sasuke as he pulled out a kunai, Naruto following by summoning her scythe. Temari quickly pulled out her fan and waved it out in front of her which created a large gust of wind, blowing the sand still on the ground towards the group of Konoha ninja. The three raised their arms to protect their faces, and when the sand screen fell, the Suna siblings were gone. "Shit."

"They've probably run towards the forest for cover," commented Shikamaru from behind them. "If we go now, we'll be able to catch up with them since they've got Gaara slowing them down."

"'We'? You're actually coming with us?" asked Naruto in disbelief.

"It's three on two if I don't, and even with Gaara injured, he's still a monster just waiting to explode. You obviously need my help," said the Nara with a shrug. The Uchiha and the Uzumaki just looked at each other before nodding.

* * *

 **A/N: Bit of a rushed ending, I know, but I wanted to get this chapter out because I know it's been a while since the last one. I've been busy with studying for exams that'll be starting next week, however as soon as I post this chapter, I'll start writing the next one. Dunno if I'll be able to post that today, but hopefully it'll at least be sometime this weekend. I highly doubt I'll have time to write for the next two weeks, but I'll see how much I can do after that.**

 **I also had Naruto absolutely destroy Neji, although in a more evenly-matched way compared to the original version. The Hyūga blind-spot obviously isn't that hard to figure out if that spider guy was able to find it, so a being that has been on that earth for hundreds of years, watching shinobi grow and develop, should know about it and a hell of a lot of other stuff (in case you didn't realise, I was talking about the Ky** **ūbi).**

 **As always, thank you to all my readers for your continued support of this story. We're almost where I left off the previous version, just got to finish the Chūnin Exam arc and the Tsunade Retrieval arc. After that will be an original arc of my own making, which I hope you will all enjoy.**


	19. Konoha vs Suna

_Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto or any of its characters_

' _Talking.'  
_ "Talking."  
" **Tailed Beast** / **Jutsu**."  
" _ **Summons.**_ "

 **Trigger warning! There is a brief mention of rape in this chapter, and by brief I mean one sentence but considering there are people that get very uncomfortable with even that, AND the fact that the victim is young, I feel it necessary to have this warning here. The mention will be near the end of the fight with Gaara.**

 **Chapter 19: Konoha vs Suna**

The first thing Ino heard when she woke up was Sakura calling her name. Groaning, the Yamanaka slowly opened her eyes, just in time to see the Haruno deflect a kunai that was heading straight for her. "Ino, get up!" shouted Sakura as she grabbed the blonde's arms and pulled her into a standing position, dragging her along to where Kakashi and Gai were. "Kakashi-sensei! Orochimaru is up there with the Hokage!"

"I know, Sakura!" replied Kakashi before throwing one of the enemy Sound ninja into some empty seats.

"But if Orochimaru is here, then Naruto- "

"Naruto?! Where is she?!" Ino demanded as she looked around, suddenly becoming very aware of the fact that the village was being invaded and it was chaos all around her. The blonde looked down at the arena, realising that the competitors' box was empty and Naruto, Sasuke and Shikamaru were nowhere to be scene.

"Last I saw they chased the Sand siblings out of the arena," the Hatake kicked another Sound ninja in the face, knocking him out. "I need you two to go after them before they do anything stupid. This will be an A-rank mission, just like Nami no Kuni. But before you go… **Kuchiyose no Jutsu**!" Kakashi placed his hand on the ground in front of him, a puff of smoke appearing in front of it. "Pakkun will track their scent through the forest and guide you to them," Kakashi referred to the small brown dog that was now sitting where the smoke had appeared. It was wearing a Konoha headband and a blue jacket.

"This dog is gonna help us?" asked Sakura in disbelief.

"Oi, little girl, don't call me a cute dog, okay?" Pakkun glared up at her, which just made the two kunoichi sigh.

' _I didn't say cute…'_

* * *

"This way!" yelled Naruto as she changed direction slightly after having sensed Gaara pass this area. She hadn't told her two comrades, but having a Tailed Beast inside of her allowed her to almost _feel_ the presence of another, especially when that other Tailed Beast was becoming restless like Gaara's was. "We've almost caught up to them!"

"How can you be so sure?" asked Sasuke when he began to travel beside her. Shikamaru still travelled behind them, not wanting to be forced straight into the action when they reached their targets.

"I just know, now come on!"

The three Konoha Genin had been on the move for a little while now, meaning they were most likely very deep into Konohagakure's forest. Sasuke was excited to continue his match with Gaara while Naruto was ready to finally show Temari how much she pissed her off. Shikamaru just wanted to go home.

"Naruto, watch out!" warned the Uchiha, but it was too late. The Uzumaki cursed when she realised she had tripped a wire, and a glance to where it was leading to confirmed her fears. The exploding tag let off a large explosion which propelled the blonde through the air, however she was able to catch herself on another branch. Unfortunately for her, more exploding tags had been left behind so she was forced to constantly move from one tree to another until finally all the tags had been used.

"Well done, idiot. Now they know how close we are," Sasuke said angrily as he jumped down to Naruto.

"Don't blame me, you bastard! You're the one with the Sharingan, so use it!" Naruto followed up with a push to Sasuke's shoulders which in turn made the boy more annoyed.

" _You're_ the one that insisted on leading therefore it's _your_ responsibility to look for traps!" the black haired boy shot back with a push of his own.

"Okay, calm down!" shouted Shikamaru as he stood in-between the two Genin. "Let's agree to disagree until we get those Sand guys. Is that okay with the old married couple?"

"Shut up!" both Sasuke and Naruto yelled at Shikamaru before looking back at each other. A moment later, they just grunted in agreement of the temporary truce. The Nara just sighed, wondering how long it would take for their constantly clashing personalities to get them all killed.

* * *

 _ **Back at the Arena…**_

Although the Sand and Sound invaders weren't giving him much trouble, Kakashi was worried out of his mind. Despite knowing that attacking a village's ninja academy during an invasion was not a valid tactic, he couldn't shake the feeling that he was wrong, that Sound and Sand _did_ consider the academy a target. The Hokage's grandson, Konohamaru, _is_ a current student there, but why go after him unless you plan on using him as ransom to the Hokage? That would be a stupid move considering they definitely plan on killing the village leader. A shout to his right snapped the man out of his thoughts. Quickly, he caught the ninja aiming a kunai at his neck and threw him into one of his comrades that was starting to get up. They both tumbled down the steps.

"Kakashi, what's wrong?" asked his eternal rival, Gai. The two were having another one of their competitions, but instead of it being something as light-hearted as a game of rock-paper-scissors, they were competing to see who could wipe out the most enemies. Gai took a minute to study his friend-rival, before coming to the right conclusion. Nodding his head in understanding, he gestured to the exit. "Go help the ninja academy."

"No, Gai, I need to stay- "

The taijutsu master let out a laugh, like the Hatake had just said something ridiculous. "You don't think I can hold this position myself? Please! These guys don't stand a chance against Maito Gai!" the man struck one of his blinding poses.

"Ah… right…" replied Kakashi, looking away from the sunset-jutsu. "Thanks."

"No problem!" Gai replied before doing a whirling kick into the nearest Sound ninja.

' _Iruka… please be okay.'_

* * *

Temari gasped as a kunai just missed her head, instead hitting the tree next to her. She and Kankurō whirled around to see who had found them, narrowing their eyes at the three Konoha Genin. "Damn," muttered the puppet user, looking straight at the blonde Jinchūriki. "Of all people to catch us…"

"Looks like we've finally caught up to you," said Sasuke with a smirk, twirling a kunai in his hand. "You're not going anywhere now."

"Fight…" the red haired boy whispered as he moved away from his brother, choosing to stand on his own. "Kill…"

"No, Gaara, your chakra- " Kankurō tried to get through to him, only to be brushed off.

"I have _plenty_ ," he replied.

"Looks like your brother wants to fight, why stop him?" asked Naruto as she stepped forward, part of her wanting to see Sasuke's ego get crushed when Gaara's Tailed Beast annihilates him. Just a small part of her, she promises.

" **You have to be the one to fight him, you know**."

' _Excuse me? Why do I have to do it?'_

" **You know what he is, Sasuke doesn't** _ **and**_ **you have the advantage of me being here. You're the only one that has a chance.** "

' _That's a valid argument, I suppose…'_

"I guess that settles it then," the Uchiha began walking forward, ready to meet Gaara in battle when suddenly, Naruto's arm shot out in front of him. "Naruto?" he asked in confusion.

"He's mine," she replied. "You take puppet boy instead," the Uzumaki ignored the 'hey!' that came from 'puppet boy', "Shikamaru, looks like you're getting that match after all."

"What a drag," the Nara said, but stepped up anyway.

"Aw, and here I was hoping we would finally get to test each other. Shame," taunted Temari before taking off deeper into the forest, Shikamaru following. Kankurō did the same, leading Sasuke away from the two Jinchūriki.

* * *

"Stop!" commanded Pakkun, the dog's sudden halt forcing the girls to abruptly stop as well.

"What is it?" inquired the Haruno.

"The scents start to split a little further up. I think the Uchiha boy went to the left with one of the Sand siblings," Pakkun took a moment to smell the scent again, "the older male. The other boy went to the right with the female Sand sibling. As for your girlfriend," the two kunoichi blushed, "she stayed with the freaky one."

"Let's keep going then!" shouted Ino, jumping to the next branch.

"WAIT!" shouted the dog in a panicked tone. " _Don't_ go there! I'm getting some seriously crazy chakra vibes coming from them. Whatever it is they're doing, you _do not_ want to get in the middle of it. I'll go to her, you two go to the others and help them out."

"Wait, why can't we go but a _dog_ can?"

"Listen girly, I may be a cute, cuddly, fluffy doggy, but I'm also a summon meaning I can unsummon myself if things get too crazy. You can't, so do yourselves a favour and stay out of this," Pakkun then took off before the two could react.

The Haruno sighed, knowing that what Pakkun was saying was true, it wouldn't be wise for her and Ino to go looking for the danger he was talking about. Although she hated to admit it, they just weren't ready for that level of combat.

"I guess this is where we split, huh?" asked Ino. "We go to our teammates?"

"Yeah. Good luck, Ino," replied Sakura before making her way to Sasuke.

"Same to you, Sakura," the Yamanaka smiled as she began to travel towards Shikamaru. Perhaps this could be the start of a new friendship between them.

* * *

"Uzumaki…" Gaara mumbled before he felt a shooting pain in his head. He was beginning to lose control.

"Go on, Gaara," the blonde said with a smirk. The Suna Jinchūriki looked up in confusion. "You show me yours, I show you mine."

The red haired boy grinned. "You are powerful. You are known. If I kill you, I can exist as the person that ended you!" Gaara was then forced to his knees from the pain, his sand armour breaking apart on his face. "You are my… _prey_!"

Sand slowly started to climb up the right side of Gaara's body, forming into some kind of beast with sand-coloured skin and blue veins all over. _'Is he really transforming into it?'_

" **That's what Shukaku, the Ichibi, does to his hosts. He's always been really unstable, therefore his Jinchūriki have all adopted that mental condition. It makes it a lot easier to take over their bodies. He's also a real sexist prick, by the way. Never liked him.** "

' _Wonderful,'_ thought Naruto sarcastically. Gaara didn't appear to like his 'prey' taking her attention off of him, even for a few seconds, so he decided to jump towards her, his sand-arm stretched out in order to grab her. Unfortunately for him, the blonde was able to dodge his attack, leaving him to destroy the tree behind her instead. _'Well he's impatient. So how exactly is having you here an advantage?'_

" **Remember in the Forest of Death you used my chakra and you started to change? We're going to do that again here, but this time we're stepping it up a level. Or two. Whatever, do you trust me?** "

' _You're one of the few people I do genuinely trust. Let's do it.'_ The Uzumaki groaned when she felt her nails grow into claws and her canine teeth sharpen. Suddenly, all she could feel was anger, but then a soothing voice sounded from within her mind.

" **Calm yourself, Naruto. You'll be able to stay in control as long as you don't get yourself worked up too much.** "

It was the Kyūbi in her human form. Naruto assumed she changed so that the first thing the Uzumaki heard wasn't a deep and threatening voice. That was _not_ a good thing to experience after feeling such an overwhelming instinct to fight. Opening her eyes, the blonde was only partially shocked to see that the red cloak of chakra was different to the one she wore while fighting Neji. The current one was instead bubbling all around her, and when she looked up she could see it had also formed two long objects on her head that she guessed were meant to represent fox ears. Lastly, turning around she saw that the cloak had created two long tails coming from her lower back.

' _Two? I thought we would start at one!'_

" **That would put your chakra on equal ground with his. You need to be stronger.** "

' _Oh for- '_ the blonde's thought was interrupted by Gaara leaping towards her again, seemingly even more enraged than before as not only was his other arm covered in sand as well, but he had now grown a tail.

"I'll… I'll kill you… _**KYŪBI!**_ " that voice that came from Gaara's mouth was not his own. Naruto had only a second to realise that before she was forced to dive to the side and dodge his attack, but almost immediately, Gaara turned in mid-air and shot his arm out towards her. His attack hit his mark and the blonde was pinned to a tree. The red haired boy grinned in delight as he landed on the next branch, however his glee was short-lived. A moment later, he was screaming in pain, ripping his arm away from her to reveal the charred layer of sand that had been burned away by the girl's chakra cloak. " **Damn you, Kyūbi!** "

* * *

 _ **With Temari, Shikamaru and Ino…**_

"Shikamaru!" called Ino as she landed on the branch next to him. Thankfully, the boy was not showing any signs of being injured too badly, just a few minor cuts and bruises.

"Ino? What the hell are you doing here?" replied Shikamaru.

"Ugh, there's _more_ of you?" Temari scoffed, whipping her fan back in preparation of another attack.

"Watch out! She can generate deadly wind with that fan strong enough to easily cut through wood. Look!" the Nara pointed to the various tree branches around them that had been cleanly cut into pieces. The demonstration of their opponent's jutsu made the Yamanaka wish she hadn't come out here after all.

" **Fūton: Kazekiri no Jutsu**!"

The Nara quickly grabbed his teammate's arm, pulling her out of the way of the wind blades. "See what I mean?"

"Yeah. How do we counter that?" the boy took a moment to think about the blonde's question. Since they were behind a tree, they had some time to think before the Suna kunoichi found them. "Okay, I have an idea. Distract her for a little bit."

"Excuse me? _Distract_ her?! She'll kill me!" Ino emphasised her outrage at the suggestion by waving her arms in the air.

"I just need you to distract her long enough for me to get behind her. Part of her attention is already occupied by her worry for her brother, so it shouldn't be too hard. Do you trust me?" Shikamaru asked while holding out his hand, smirking when Ino sighed.

"All right," she said, shaking his hand, "I trust you. But you better get this right!"

"Of course," the two initiated the plan as soon as the area of the tree above was blown apart by Temari's wind. Shikamaru used the debris as cover to move himself behind another tree while Ino jumped into the open area.

"Hey, you bitch! I've been told allll about your creepy crush on Naruto! You really think she'd be interested in someone like you?!" taunted the Yamanaka as she jumped from tree to tree, never staying still long enough for Temari to target her.

Temari's eyes narrowed at the accusation of being 'creepy', deciding that this blonde needed to be silenced. After sending another volley of wind blades at her, the dark blonde pulled out a kunai with an exploding tag on it, throwing it towards the tree the Yamanaka was about to land on. The satisfaction she felt from seeing the debris from the tree hit the girl was soon replaced by disappointment when the platinum blonde's body disappeared. It was a simple replication.

"Wow, you'd think someone like you would be able to tell the difference between a basic clone and the real thing. Guess not," Ino stuck her tongue out at Temari as she moved out from behind one of the many trees.

"Shut up!" shouted an enraged Temari as she pulled back her fan again. "You want to see what I can really do? Fine!" but before the Suna kunoichi could let loose one of her stronger jutsu, she felt her body become paralysed. "What?!"

" **Kagemane no Jutsu** , now you're done," said Shikamaru from behind Temari. "You really shouldn't have let Ino's words affect you as much as they did."

" _ **KYŪBI!**_ "

"What was that?" asked Ino as she jumped down to the same branch as the other two

"I don't know what kind of thing made that noise, but did I hear right? Did it say 'Kyūbi'?" Shikamaru asked, cutting his shadow jutsu short.

"That was Gaara, it had to be. Shukaku is taking control of him! I have to go to him!" shouted the Suna kunoichi as she closed her fan and strapped it to her back.

"Hold on now, I get that we're not fighting each other anymore, but can we at least get an explanation for what we'd run into if we go back?" Shikamaru crossed his arms and stood up straight, trying to show Temari that he wouldn't let her go anywhere without an answer.

"Look, we only have time for the short answer, so here it is: my brother, Gaara, had a sand demon sealed inside of him when he was a baby. That sand demon was Shukaku, the Ichibi, and right now he's taking control of Gaara's body. We need to get to him so we can stop that from progressing any further, because if we don't, your friend dies!"

* * *

" **Die!** " yelled 'Gaara', his tail reaching up to smack Naruto out of the air. The tail hit her, but instead of having the outcome 'Gaara' desired, the girl caught his tail. Naruto dug her claws into the appendage and as soon as her feet touched a branch, she used her chakra to latch on. With a growl, the Uzumaki pulled on the tail, lifted 'Gaara' up from his position and throwing him into a tree which snapped in half under the force. 'Gaara' started to fall from the broken tree, only to be kicked into another by the Uzumaki. 'Gaara' screamed in rage as he attempted to begin a counter-attack, but Naruto wasn't done with him yet.

Naruto jumped towards him, landing with her feet on either side of Gaara's body. Crouching down so that there wasn't much distance between them, she then started to send punch after punch to the shinobi's face and body. With a cry, the Uzumaki struck the boy's head one more time, this time managing to knock off a portion of the sand. 'Gaara' roared in pain, pushing the blonde away with his sand and bringing one of his arms up to his head. A few seconds later, the sand on his head was restored, which also spread to the rest of his head and his torso. " **You bitch! Why won't you die?!** "

" **Shukaku's control over him is growing.** "

' _I can see that.'_

" **Stay still!** " yelled 'Gaara' as he threw his arms out, sand in the shape of shuriken flying from them and towards Naruto. The girl, however, didn't move and instead let her chakra tails swat them away. The Uzumaki gasped when she felt a sudden pain in her head and her anger spike sharply. She realised why when turned to see another tail forming.

' _What the hell?'_

" **Shit, I thought this might happen. Allowing my chakra freedom over your body has created a leak. The more you're in this form, the stronger and more unstable you'll get.** "

' _You know, this is really something you should've put in the terms and conditions.'_

" **Oh please, no one ever reads those. Just a quick warning though** , **you** _ **can't**_ **reach four tails.** "

' _Why? What happens at four?'_

" **This goes completely beyond my control, I won't be able to stop you from going full psycho like I am now. If I feel like you're about to turn, I'm shutting this off. Understand?** "

' _Yeah, I got it.'_

Naruto took a deep breath, hoping that would help her gain her self-control back. She had to finish this soon or she was in trouble. Putting her hands together in a seal, Naruto shouted out, " **Tajū Kage Bunshin no Jutsu**!" Much to 'Gaara's' shock, dozens of shadow clones appeared all around him. Never before had he seen so many of them. "This fight is just getting started," Naruto smirked, her eye flashing briefly. " **Are you ready, you rat-faced, one-tail asshole?** " taunted 'Naruto'.

'Gaara' growled at her words. " **Kyūbi…** "

" **That's right, and my Jinchūriki and I are going to kick. Your. Ass.** "

" **You think clones scare me?! You're both just women! What can you do against me like** _ **that**_ **?!** "

" **Just watch!** " the Kyūbi gave Naruto control back, but not before thanking her for giving her the chance to taunt Shukaku. Suddenly, all the clones launched themselves towards 'Gaara', much to his surprise. Before he could react, half a dozen of the clones came from below him and kicked him into the air. More came and kept him in the air by continuing the kicks while three of them sent huge dragon head-shaped fireballs at him. 'Gaara' cried out as parts of the outer layer of his skin turned to glass at flames so hot. They must have been enhanced by the Kyūbi's chakra to affect him like that.

Meanwhile, the rest of clones were coming down to 'Gaara' from above. Two of them each had one of the red and black gauntlets, while another two seemed to have boots made of the same metal. The rest of the clones had weapons in their hands, all of them some type of war hammer with black handles and silver heads. 'Gaara' could only watch in fear, something he hadn't felt for decades, as the clones reached him, attacking all at once. The boy could feel the sand-turned-glass breaking away from him while the rest of his sand barely hung on to his body. Falling to the ground, 'Gaara' could just barely keep his eyes open long enough to see the original Naruto also falling- no, coming after him with her fist pulled back. "This is what we can do, together! Something neither you nor your Jinchūriki will _ever_ be able to understand!"

'Gaara' tried to speak, but before he could let out even a single word, Naruto's fist landed on his jaw, ripping the sand away from Gaara's body and effectively silencing whatever the demon was about to say. The Uzumaki used a clone to jump to the safety of a nearby tree, quickly looking back to 'Gaara' just in time to see him hit the ground with a satisfying 'thud'.

" **Damn, I think you might've done it.** "

' _Kurama,_ we _did it.'_

" **Yeah, I was pretty awesome, wasn't I?** "

' _Don't push it.'_

" _ **You…**_ " the blonde's eyes widened in shock at seeing 'Gaara' pick himself up, sand already filling in the gaps around his body, including his mouth. " _ **You…**_ " Naruto readied herself, summoning her katana, her clones following her lead. " _ **You… CAN'T BEAT ME!**_ _"_

Naruto gasped as sand shot up from where 'Gaara' was, knocking her back and destroying all her clones as it went. The sand was soon accompanied by the appearance of a large cloud of smoke. The blonde's face expressed genuine horror at the sight of the huge shadow behind the smoke, and when the creature roared and the smoke disappeared, the Uzumaki could've sworn some of her hair turned white. Naruto almost subconsciously blocked out the sound of her name being called. Almost.

The Kyūbi Jinchūriki turned around to see Sasuke, Sakura, Ino, Shikamaru, Temari and Kankurō standing on the trees behind her, her own teammates and the male Suna sibling looking like they had just come from a long fight, while the remaining three barely looked hurt at all. Quickly realising that they were all in danger, Naruto jumped up and gestured for them to go. "Get out of here!"

"But… that chakra…" muttered Sakura, the rest of the Konoha Genin looking just as worried as her at the sight of Naruto's cloak. The Sand siblings only seemed mildly surprised, something Naruto would have to investigate at a later date.

"Go!" shouted the blonde before what felt like an earthquake brought her attention back to the obviously in-control Ichibi.

" _ **Uzumaki!**_ " it yelled before raising its tail in the air. Naruto had just a few seconds to jump to another tree before the appendage crushed the one she was standing on. The force of the giant tail hitting the ground almost sent the present ninja flying away, but they managed to hold on using their chakra.

" **This** _ **might**_ **be a good time to summon one of those snakes!** "

' _Agreed!'_ thought Naruto as she ripped off the glove covering her temporary tattoo. The Uzumaki bit her thumb hard enough for it to start bleeding, and when she was happy with the amount on it, she swiped it down the tattoo before slamming her hand on the branch at her feet. " **Kuchiyose no Jutsu**!"

Naruto smirked when she noticed that she was suddenly eye-level with Shukaku, meaning her summon had worked. Looking down just as the smoke disappeared, she was intrigued to see that the snake she had summoned was a very dark blue with white horizontal stripes down its back. " _ **You require my assistance?**_ "

"Okay, first of all, I expected some kind of emphasis on the 's'. Secondly… of course I do! Do you not see the huge fucking rat-looking thing in front of you?!"

" _ **Watch it you little brat! I could disappear anytime I want. Just because you have a contract doesn't mean I have to help you!**_ "

"Okay, I get it! Could you _please_ help me fight this thing?"

" _ **Of course…**_ "

"Wait! Before you get into the fighting, can you lure him away from this area? There are people down there that could get caught in the crossfire."

" _ **As you wish…**_ " the snake then shot off faster than Naruto thought possible for something of its size, and as the snake passed Shukaku, it tore a chunk out of the Tailed Beast's leg. " _ **That should anger the beast enough.**_ " Much like the summons predicted, Shukaku cried out in rage, turning around to follow the snake and taking it away from the ninja below. Naruto looked back at Shukaku, narrowing her eyes when she noticed Gaara's body sticking out of the beast's forehead.

"Hey, snake, do you see him on there?"

" _ **My name is Daiichi, little girl. Yes, I see him. He is the Jinchūriki, correct?**_ "

"Yeah, and _my_ name is Uzumaki Naruto, not 'little girl'," the Uzumaki could feel the snake chuckling.

" _ **All right, Naruto. That boy on top of Shukaku must be asleep for the beast to be awake like this. You must wake him up in order to end this jutsu.**_ _**A simple strike to the boy's face will suffice.**_ "

"Okay, then get me close enough to do that," Naruto yelped as she was unprepared for Daiichi to move so fast again, however this time was even worse for her as the snake was forced to constantly move to avoid being hit by the blasts of air being shout out of Shukaku's mouth.

" _ **You picked the right summon for this. The fight will be over soon,**_ " before Naruto could ask why, Daiichi had reached Shukaku and was now climbing up its body. " _ **Hold on!**_ " the snake warned the Uzumaki as it began to curl around Shukaku's body, constricting the beast. The sand demon roared in anger as it tried to pry the snake off, but the summon wouldn't budge. " _ **Now!**_ "

Naruto ran down Daiichi's head, which was now level with Gaara's body. The snake even extended its tongue, allowing Naruto jump on and launching her towards Gaara, bypassing the large amount of sand she would've had to run over which would've undoubtedly tried to stop her. "Wake up!" she yelled before slamming a Kyūbi chakra coated fist into the side of Gaara's head.

" **No!** " screamed Shukaku as control was forced back on to Gaara, however Naruto didn't have any time to celebrate as Shukaku's body was still fighting back.

" _ **You need to hit him again!**_ " said Daiichi before biting down on one of the beast's arms.

"Damn it, why won't you just quit?!" Naruto went to hit Gaara again, but the sand had unfortunately had time to react to her presence. The blonde's arm was stopped merely inches from the boy's face by the sand wrapping around her wrist. She wasn't even able to use her other arm as that too had been caught.

"I _will_ kill you! I _will not_ disappear!" Gaara shouted as he brought his hands together in a seal.

"Why?! Why are you such a psychopath?! Why do you feel the need to kill _anyone_ that even looks at you wrong?! Huh?!" Naruto demanded. "People like you just don't make any sense! You have absolutely _no_ self-control, regard for life or any valid goals. And no, 'kill everyone' is not a valid goal!"

" _I was alone_!" Naruto pulled her head back in shock of the outburst. "I have always been alone! Hated and unloved for something I could never control, and I was never even told _why_! Even the one person who I thought cared about me tried to kill me. He said it was because my father ordered it, but then he told me the truth; he never loved me, in fact, he _hated_ me because my mother died giving birth to me. So, that's why! That's why I must kill, so I can confirm my existence in this world, because no one else will!"

"BULLSHIT!" Naruto shouted back before slamming her head into Gaara's. The strength behind it was enough to put Gaara into shock and draw blood that trickled down both of their faces. Starting from where Gaara was, Shukaku's body began to crack and break apart into plain sand which gently fell to the forest ground below. Eventually Gaara and Naruto, too, fell. Daiichi watched this, even managing to let out a small smile before disappearing in a puff of smoke.

" _ **Well done, Uzumaki Naruto.**_ "

* * *

Sakura, Ino and Temari led the search for the two Genin, having lost track of them when all the sand fell. Despite calling out their names multiple times, they hadn't received any replies. The group was beginning to become restless, constantly looking to the other 'team' to see if they would attack, and just as tensions almost reached their limit, they heard shouting a small distance away. Breaking into the clearing, the group found Naruto on top of Gaara, pulling his face close to hers by his shirt.

"This is how I must confirm my existence! _I have no choice_!" Gaara shouted, gritting his teeth together when Naruto backhanded him.

"No choice?! _No choice?!_ We all have a choice! You know what I am, and you think my life was all sunshine and rainbows? Well, newsflash, it _wasn't_. For as long as I can remember, this _fucking_ village and ninety-nine percent of the people living here hate me, and I don't mean 'strongly dislike', I mean they have complete and utter _hatred_ for me. I have been beaten, tortured and…" Naruto closed her eyes and took a deep breath, "… _fucking raped_ , because of something _I_ couldn't control either! And you know what, _Gaara_? I'm not a monster!" the Uzumaki finished with another backhand.

The red haired boy felt like he had forgotten how to breathe. How could someone have gone through all of that, and _not_ be just like him? Hell, even _worse_ than him? Looking over to his siblings, he could tell that they felt the same way he did. "How… how do you exist?"

The Kyūbi Jinchūriki felt her rage increase almost tenfold at what she considered a _ridiculous_ question, but she kept her anger in long enough to speak. "That feeling of loneliness and abandonment? That was all I ever felt for the longest time. You want to know how I ended up like this, and not like you? I _accepted_ those feelings and I _dealt_ with them. Did I want to go on a killing rampage and get back at everyone that had wronged me?" the Uzumaki took a moment to laugh. " _All the time_ , but I didn't because I held on to _one_ thing: hope. Hope, that I would one day have the power to say _fuck you_ and leave them all behind."

"Naruto… you can stop now…" said Sasuke as he cautiously approached her with his hand out. "It's fine, you beat him."

"Sasuke…" the Uchiha sighed at Naruto's reply as it sounded like she was calming down. "You _bastard_." Oh, never mind.

"Naruto?" he asked when the girl let go of Gaara's shirt, letting the rest of his body hit the ground.

"From the very start, all you've done is treat me like dirt just because I wasn't as strong as you, well look at me now!" she shouted, holding her arms out like she was showing off. "I could _kill you_ if I wanted to, and _wow_ , how I really want to."

" **Naruto, stop! You're losing it!** "

The Uzumaki ignored the Kyūbi's warning, finally letting herself _feel_ all that anger bubbling up inside her. Instead of panicking about the fourth tail building up behind her, she _enjoyed_ it.

"Naruto, you don't mean that!" shouted Sakura as she too stepped forward, following by Ino. The two girls stood on either side of the Uchiha.

"Shit… she's losing control, just like Gaara," Kankurō mumbled, but it was loud enough for the ninja to hear.

"What does _that_ mean?" asked Shikamaru, but even without the answer, he was starting to piece it together.

"'Like Gaara'? I don't think so, puppet boy. Unlike that mess, I feel great," she replied with a grin, but a second later it turned into a frown. Ino and Sakura jumped forward when Naruto's face contorted in pain, the blonde dropping to her knees and clutching her head in her hands a few seconds later.

" **You know, when I said 'don't get too worked up', were you daydreaming or something? Because you crossed that line by** _ **miles**_ **, and now I have to shut this down! This hurts because you didn't listen!** "

' _Damn it, stop! I don't need you to save me!'_

" **Actually, you do. Now stop fighting me!** "

"She needs something to focus on," said Gaara as Temari helped him stand.

"What?" the Suna kunoichi asked.

"Whenever I felt Shukaku trying to take over, I always focused on something. It used to be Yashamaru, but…" the boy looked down, but thankfully he got his message across. Ignoring Sasuke's 'hey!', both Ino and Sakura moved to crouch in front of Naruto.

"Naruto, please look at us," pleaded Sakura, tempted to try and touch Naruto but she knew that would only anger her teammate more.

"Get away from me," growled Naruto, looking up to glare at them with her red eye, hoping that would scare them away, but the two girls didn't even flinch.

"You can fight this, Naruto. Whatever this is, you can fight it. Let us help," Ino smiled, holding out her hand. The Uzumaki looked at it in confusion, then looked up at the Yamanaka, before once again looking at her hand. The Haruno followed soon after, holding out her own hand.

"H-hey, what are you guys doing? That chakra looks bad!" warned Shikamaru.

"Shut up," Ino snapped back.

"We know you don't actually want to be like this, so come on, let us be there for you again," Sakura whispered, tears threatening to fall down her face at the thought of Naruto turning into another Gaara.

" **Naruto… listen to them.** "

The sudden appearance of the human-Kyūbi's voice started to soothe Naruto. That, and the sight of Ino and Sakura reaching out to her, finally did it for the Uzumaki. On the outside, the red chakra began to retreat back into the seal on her stomach and the physical changes the chakra had caused turned back to normal. Naruto gently exhaled, thankful that she was able to take back control of her body, before promptly passing out. Ino and Sakura yelped in surprise but were able to catch the Jinchūriki.

For a moment, everything was silent. The Suna siblings looked at the Uzumaki in both fear of her demon and awe at her ability to come back from its grasp. Then, Ino and Sakura began to cry for Naruto, at her reveal of her past. Even the Uchiha had to clench a fist to stop himself from showing any emotion.

"Did you figure it out?" whispered Sasuke to Shikamaru.

"Of course. Did you?" replied the Nara who was wondering how he was going to be able to thank Sakura and Ino for calming Naruto down.

"Yeah…" the Uchiha glanced towards Gaara before looking back at Naruto, the connections already made. "I know what she is."

* * *

 **A/N: This is a long chapter because once I got to the Gaara fight, there wasn't really an appropriate place for me to stop. I wanted to write all this stuff in, but I also felt like it would be shitty if I left you guys on a cliff-hanger, so here's a chapter with 6000+ words! I know, it's not as impressive as some authors who can spit out regular chapters with 10,000+ words, but this is impressive for me!**

 **Anyways, just to address some things: like the Kyūbi said, even though Naruto is in control when the Kyūbi gives the chakra to her instead of forcing it, it leaves a 'leak' that will constantly be giving the chakra to Naruto which, of course, is not good. Naruto can control herself up to three tails, but even then if she lets herself get too angry, she risks losing that control. So yeah, it can be a huge power boost, but much like the Cursed Mark, there are consequences.**

 **I've also given Sakura and Ino a 'moment' with Naruto because I feel like this was an appropriate point to do so, mainly because of what will transpire in my original arc (after the Tsunade Retrieval arc).**

 **Unfortunately, I cut out the fight between Sasuke, Sakura and Kankurō. I did that because it just would've dragged on too much, I even debated cutting out the Temari fight as well, but I needed to show that Shukaku-in-Gaara's-body calling out 'Kyūbi' attracted both groups back to the fight, but I couldn't exactly write it as:**

 **Scream  
Temari realises what it is  
"Please let me go back to Gaara."  
"Okay let's go."  
Cut back to Naruto and Gaara**

 **I had to have some kind of content there, you know? I apologise if it was still shit lol.**

 **Something else I want to mention is that I absolutely love it when I get PMs/reviews asking me questions about MtHtS. It shows me that there are people that are really interested in this story, and it honestly makes me so happy. What I'm trying to say is, if you have any questions (really, any) don't be afraid to ask me! It's not rude or anything, and I hate knowing that there is someone out there reading this story and is either confused about something or really curious but doesn't want to ask. In the words of Shia LaBeouf: just do it!**

 **I always miss something when writing the author's notes at the end of the chapter, and I always remember** _ **after**_ **posting. What's annoying is that I** _ **know**_ **there's something I was going to say, but I've completely forgotten. Oh well.**


End file.
